Interview Session Timing Can’t Fix Seniority Under Rule 109 School Education Rules: Delhi High Court Upholds 2022 Seniority List For Promotion In Aided School

The Petitioner, a direct recruit PGT (Commerce), approached the High Court questioning the validity of the seniority list finalised on March 22, 2022 and sought restoration of the seniority position in the Post Graduate Teacher grade in Lady Irwin Senior Secondary School, a recognised aided School governed by the Delhi School Education Act and the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973.

The Single Bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula held, “The petition rests on two propositions: that interview session timing can fix seniority, and that the October 2020 list must be treated as determinative notwithstanding its contested status and the long-standing seniority position reflected in earlier lists. Rule 109 does not support the first proposition. The record does not support the second one. The Petitioner has not demonstrated a specific breach of rota-quota rotation under Rule 109(iii) by placing the recruitment rules, quota and roster mapping that would justify judicial displacement of the seniority position that has existed for years and has already been acted upon for promotions.”

Senior Advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi represented the Petitioner.

Factual Background

The School had issued an advertisement in March 2008 inviting applications for various posts, including PGT (Commerce). The Petitioner applied and appeared in the selection process. She was interviewed, and an appointment letter was issued to her on July 30, 2008. The terms required the fulfilment of pre-joining formalities, including verification and certificates, and stated that the appointment would be subject to approval of the Directorate of Education after joining. She joined as PGT (Commerce) on August 13, 2008. The seventh Respondent entered the School much earlier as TGT on February 17, 1988. A duly constituted Departmental Promotion Committee met and recommended her promotion to PGT (Maths). The School issued an office order recording promotion to the post of PGT (Maths) with effect from 14th July, 2008.

The Petitioner’s case was based on the ground that seniority in the PGT grade ought to follow the “date of selection” and, within the same date, the interview session time. On that basis, she placed principal reliance on a seniority list prepared in October 2020, which placed her at serial No. 4 and showed her as senior to the seventh Respondent and certain other incumbents. The Petitioner asserted that restoration of her position in the said 2020 list would entitle her to consideration for further promotion.

The Directorate of Education granted approval for holding the DPC for Vice Principal. A DPC met and recommended the seventh Respondent for promotion, recording that she was the senior-most eligible PGT in the zone of consideration and met the benchmark. Aggrieved thereby, the Petitioner instituted the writ petition. By an order dated December 4, 2024, the High Court directed that effect would not be given to the recommendation of the DPC pending further orders. It was the grievance of the Petitioner that the altered seniority had been used to fast-track promotional action to her detriment.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that the Petitioner’s attempt to locate her seniority in the “vacancy year 2007-08” was not supported by the statutory scheme. As per the Bench, Rule 109 does not confer seniority merely because recruitment was initiated earlier or because an interview took place earlier. It was noted that the rule speaks in terms of selection on an occasion, merit, and rota-quota rotation of vacancies based on the recruitment rules.

The Bench noticed that the Respondents had placed contemporaneous material showing that the seventh Respondent’s promotion to the PGT grade by a DPC held on July 14, 2008 and an office order recording promotion with effect from that date. “The Petitioner’s appointment letter was issued later, and her joining as PGT (Commerce) is recorded as 13th August, 2008. On these facts, the Petitioner’s invitation to rank a later entrant above a person already in the grade runs into the principle repeatedly affirmed by the Supreme Court and by this Court: seniority cannot be claimed from a date when the employee was not borne in service”, it added.

The Bench noticed that the seniority position defended by the Respondents was shown to have existed across multiple seniority lists over many years, and promotions had already been made on its basis, including the promotions of the sixth Respondent in 2021 and 2023. “The Petitioner’s plea that the School is estopped from revisiting the October 2020 list merely because it was relied upon in an earlier promotion exercise cannot be accepted, once the said list itself is shown not to be a duly finalised seniority determination under Rule 109. A writ court does not unsettle such a long-settled seniority position, with its ripple effects on third-party rights, unless the Petitioner demonstrates a clear statutory breach. That threshold is not met”, it stated.

The Bench also found that the 2022 list was approved by the Managing Committee in a meeting held on March 5, 2022. The Petitioner’s own conduct, as narrated by the Respondents, indicated that she refused to sign the 2022 list and pursued representations thereafter. As per the Bench, such conduct was inconsistent with the suggestion that she had no opportunity to object. The Bench noted that the Petitioner had not established that the Managing Committee finalised the 2022 seniority list in a manner that was procedurally unfair or legally forbidden.

“The minutes record that Respondent No. 7 was the senior-most eligible PGT in the zone of consideration and met the benchmark. A DPC decision structured, and supported by the governing seniority list, does not warrant interference merely because the Petitioner disputes her placement in the seniority list”, it held while also adding, “Once the challenge to the 2022 seniority list fails, the challenge to the DPC recommendation has no independent legs.”

The Bench was of the view that the Petitioner had not demonstrated a specific breach of rota-quota rotation under Rule 109(iii) by placing the recruitment rules, quota and roster mapping that would justify judicial displacement of the seniority position that existed for years and had already been acted upon for promotions.

Thus, dismissing the writ petition, the Bench vacated the interim order by which effect was not to be given to the recommendation of the DPC held on 28th November, 2024. “The Respondents shall be at liberty to proceed in accordance with law on the basis of the DPC recommendation”, it held.

Cause Title: Jolly Batoo v. Government of NCT of Delhi (Case No.: W.P.(C) 16751/2024)

Appearance

Respondent: Senior Advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi, Advocates Siddharth Krishna Dwivedi, Rishabh Srivastava, Ayushi, Arun Panwar, Latika Choudhary

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