Qualifying Service For Promotion To Be Counted From Calendar Year Of Joining Feeder Cadre & Not Joining Date: Chhattisgarh High Court
The Chhattisgarh High Court was considering an intra-Court appeal against the order passed by the Single Judge.
While dealing with a matter of promotion of employees holding the post of Sub Inspector (Radio), the Chhattisgarh High Court has held that the rule-making authority has consciously prescribed the calendar year of joining as the starting point for computation of qualifying service under the Chhattisgarh Public Services (Promotion) Rules, 2003, and has specifically excluded the actual date of joining as the basis for such computation.
The High Court was considering an intra-Court appeal preferred by the appellants against the order passed by the Single Judge dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellants.
The Bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal held, “A plain reading of the aforesaid provision leaves no manner of doubt that the rule-making authority has consciously prescribed the calendar year of joining as the starting point for computation of qualifying service and has specifically excluded the actual date of joining as the basis for such computation. Therefore, once the appellants had joined the feeder cadre in the year 2017, the entire calendar year 2017 is liable to be reckoned as the first year of qualifying service.”
“When the statutory provision itself specifically provides that the qualifying service is to be counted from the calendar year in which the employee joined the feeder cadre and not from the date of joining, the actual dates of joining of the appellants in November, 2017 cannot be made the basis for postponing their eligibility”, it added.
Advocate Sourabh Sahu represented the Appellant while Government Advocate S. S. Baghel represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
The appellants were appointed to the post of Sub Inspector (Radio) vide an order after successfully qualifying the prescribed recruitment process and joined their respective posts in November, 2017. Their services are governed by the Chhattisgarh Police Executive (Non-Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 2021, under which the next promotional post from Sub Inspector (Radio) is Inspector (Radio) and eight years of service on the feeder post is prescribed for promotion. The appellants contended that, in view of Rule 6(2) of the Chhattisgarh Public Services (Promotion) Rules, 2003, particularly the Explanation thereto, the qualifying service is required to be computed from the calendar year in which the employee joined the feeder cadre and not from the actual date of joining.
According to the appellants, having joined the feeder cadre in 2017, they had completed the requisite eight years of qualifying service in the year 2024 and were eligible for consideration for promotion as on January 1, 2025. The appellants claimed that despite their eligibility, the respondents failed to convene the Departmental Promotion Committee and consider their cases for promotion, though DPCs had been convened and promotion orders had been issued in respect of other officers of the department.
The appellants, having made representations to the authorities without any favourable response, preferred a petition before the Single Judge. The Single Judge dismissed the writ petition, holding that the appellants would complete eight years of service in October, 2025, as per their respective dates of joining and would consequently become eligible for promotion on January 1, 2026. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the appellants preferred the intra-Court appeal.
Reasoning
Referring to Rule 6(2) of the Chhattisgarh Public Services (Promotion) Rules, 2003, the Bench explained that the Explanation appended to Rule 6(2) specifically provides the manner of computation of eligibility and states that the period of qualifying service, as on 1st January of the relevant year in which the Departmental Promotion Committee is convened, shall be counted from the calendar year in which the public servant has joined the feeder cadre, and not from the date of joining of the cadre, part of the service or pay scale of the post.
The Bench held, “In our considered opinion, the learned Single Judge fell into error in proceeding on the basis of the actual dates of joining of the appellants and holding that they would complete eight years of service only in October, 2025 and would, therefore, become eligible for consideration for promotion from 01.01.2026. Such an interpretation runs contrary to the express language of the Explanation to Rule 6(2) of the Rules, 2003.”
The Bench further held that once the appellants had completed the requisite eight years of qualifying service by reckoning their service from the calendar year 2017, they were eligible to be considered for promotion as on January 1, 2025, subject, of course, to their fulfillment of the other conditions prescribed under the Rules.
Setting aside the impugned order of the Single Judge, the Bench allowed the appeal. The Bench thus ordered the respondents to consider the case of the appellants for promotion to the post of Inspector (Radio), treating them as having completed the requisite eight years of qualifying service as on January 1, 2025, in accordance with the applicable Rules.
Cause Title: Om Prakash Dewangan v. State of Chhattisgarh (Neutral Citation: 2026:CGHC:38752-DB)