{"id":239896,"date":"2020-11-30T01:59:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T20:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=239896"},"modified":"2020-12-04T14:26:43","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T08:56:43","slug":"direct-recruits-to-rajasthans-tax-assistant-posts-cry-foul-after-departmental-promotees-appear-senior-sc-finds-seniority-justified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/11\/30\/direct-recruits-to-rajasthans-tax-assistant-posts-cry-foul-after-departmental-promotees-appear-senior-sc-finds-seniority-justified\/","title":{"rendered":"Direct Recruits to Rajasthan&#8217;s Tax Assistant posts cry foul after Departmental Promotees appear senior. SC finds seniority justified"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Supreme Court<\/strong>: In the case where Direct Recruits to the newly created posts of Tax Assistants in the Finance Department of the Government of Rajasthan claimed seniority over Departmental Promotees, the bench of Indira Banerjee and <strong>S. Ravindra Bhat*<\/strong>, JJ held that the seniority of the promotees given on the basis of their dates of appointment was justified by Rule 27 of the Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Subordinate Services (General Branch) Rules, 1975.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>In 2009, the Finance Department of the Government of Rajasthan granted approval for creation of 554 posts of Tax Assistants.<\/li>\n<li>On 4th October 2010, a Departmental Selection Committee was constituted for recruitment of both categories and proceedings were initiated soon filling all the for 554 posts of Tax Assistants. In accordance with the rules, it was proposed to fill the 80% quota of direct recruits to the extent of 443 vacancies and 111 from amongst Departmental Promotees.<\/li>\n<li>Amendments to the Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Subordinate Services General Branch Rules, 1975, made with effect from 01.12.2010, prescribed the manner of filling of posts of Tax Assistants.<\/li>\n<li>On 16.05.2011, provisional results were declared for the test held for Direct Recruits.<\/li>\n<li>The results of the tests for the Departmental Promotees were announced on 14.06.2011 and the promotion letters were issued on 23.06.2011.<\/li>\n<li>The appointment orders of the Direct Recruits were issued subsequently; on 04-07-2011.<\/li>\n<li>On 05.06.2013, the Commercial Taxes Department of the State of Rajasthan published a seniority list in which those appointed as DPs, in the 20% quota were shown as senior to the Direct Recruits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Why was the seniority challenged?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Direct Recruits argued their appointment, later than the Departmental Promotees is the result of manipulation by the department (or, rather some officers in the department) who wished to favor the Departmental Promotees; and that since their selections began before that of the DPs, the second proviso is attracted, for determination of inter se seniority. They also argue that the selection- in terms of the rules, \u201csubsequent selection\u201d necessarily refers to a chronologically later event.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em>In the present case, the recruitment of the Direct Recruits began with the advertisement in January, 2011 (and Second proviso to Rule 27 (1) 14 thus, in the earlier financial year, having regard to Rule 2 (l)) whereas the selection process for Departmental Promotees began in May, 2011.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was urged that the amended rule 27, only speaks about the seniority on the basis of date of appointment; however, the proviso (2) clarifies the rule for reckoning seniority when there are two advertisements for the same post, filled through different categories (sources) of candidates. Therefore, the main rule will only apply when the recruitment is through the same advertisement. It cannot be applied in a case where another advertisement is issued for the same post after the release of the results of the first advertisement and appointment order is given in the later case. This process of arbitrary recruitment will always deprive of the candidates in their order of seniority in their whole service tenure which is against the principles of Article 14.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>What the Supreme Court said<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court noticed that the main provision of Rule 27 of the Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Subordinate Services (General Branch) Rules, 1975 was amended\u00a0 as to clearly provide that seniority in the cadre would be fixed from the dates of appointment of the employees, or officers, to the cadre. However, the provisos of the Rules 27 were retained.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On a plain reading of the Rule 27 [1] and the two provisos, the Court summarised the following position:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 40px;\">(a) before the amendment of 2002, seniority of personnel appointed to the \u201clowest categories of posts\u201d in any department was to be determined as from the date of appointment; however, for promotees, it was to be from the date of selection;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 40px;\">(b) after the amendment of 2002, seniority has to be fixed (by reason of Rule 27 (1)) as on the date of appointment to the post or service;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 40px;\">(c) however, in the case of pre-state integration of state (of Rajasthan) or pre-integration of services, seniority could be \u201cmodified or altered by the Appointing Authority on an ad hoc basis\u201d- this clearly was meant to be a \u201csunset\u201d clause, i.e. operative for a limited period;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 40px;\">(d) the second proviso,- which is the one pressed into service by the Direct Recruits, states that seniority of those selected earlier will be determined over those selected latter<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Explaining the scope of Rule 27, the Court said the principal mandate of the rule is that seniority is determined on the basis of date of appointment (\u201cshall be fixed from the date of their appointment\u201d). Proviso (2) lists out two rules. The first is that those selected and appointed through a prior selection would rank senior to those selected and appointed through a later selection process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Rajasthan High Court was of the opinion that this rule (i.e. proviso) applied to selections from the same source, i.e. where two sets of direct recruits were appointed, those selected through a previous recruitment process, would rank senior to those recruited through a later recruitment process. The Supreme Court termed this interpretation <em>\u2018salutary\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It said,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u201cThere may be various reasons why the ultimate appointment of one batch of recruits may be delayed: challenges to some part of the recruitment process (such as shortlisting, calling of candidates for interviews etc.), during which period, a subsequent recruitment may be undertaken. To forestall any apprehensions as to which of the appointees would be senior, and if those from the earlier process are appointed later, the proviso clarifies that candidates from the earlier process would rank senior, despite the main rule speaking of a date of appointment based seniority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court applied the same logic to departmental promotees, as well, if two batches of promotees are appointed, through selection. It said,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u201cThe second limb of the second proviso clarifies that when merit based, or seniority based promotions are resorted to, the applicable norm would be seniority in the feeder cadre, to forestall any debate about the rule of merit (in the selection) being the guiding principle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hence, keeping in mind that the advertisements for filling the entire cadre, in both the quotas or streams of recruitment were issued one after the other, and more importantly, that this was the first selection and recruitment to a newly created cadre, the delay which occurred on account of administrative exigencies and also the completion of procedure, such as verification of antecedents, the Court held that the seniority of the promotees given on the basis of their dates of appointment was justified.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[Mahonar Lal Jat v. State of Rajasthan, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/iN1u2RzU\"><b>2020 SCC OnLine SC 956<\/b><\/a>, 26.11.2020]<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>*Justice S. Ravindra Bhat has penned this judgment. Read more about him <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/10\/21\/know-thy-judge-justice-s-ravindra-bhat\/\">here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>For State of Rajasthan:<\/strong> Additional Advocate General Dr. Manish Singhvi,<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>For Departmental Promotees<\/strong>: Senior Advocate R. Venkatramani<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court: In the case where Direct Recruits to the newly created posts of Tax Assistants in the Finance Department of the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":239472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[44262,44266,44265,3106,3793,44264,44263],"class_list":["post-239896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-supremecourt","tag-appoitment","tag-departmental-promotees","tag-direct-recruits","tag-recruitment","tag-Seniority","tag-tax-assistants","tag-tax-officers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Direct Recruits to Rajasthan&#039;s Tax Assistant posts cry foul after Departmental Promotees appear senior. 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Meghachandra requires reconsideration&#8217;; Supreme Court&#8217;s 5-judge bench to hear the matter","author":"Editor","date":"December 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Supreme Court said that the seniority list was correctly published by interspacing those direct recruits who were eligible in the recruitment year 2009-10 and were appointed against the vacancies of the said year with 53 promotees who were promoted. However, it recommended a reference to a 5-judge bench for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/MicrosoftTeams-image-26.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":298711,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2023\/08\/06\/for-fixing-inter-se-seniority-date-of-appointment-of-direct-recruits-should-be-considered-delhi-hc\/","url_meta":{"origin":239896,"position":1},"title":"For fixing inter se seniority, &#8220;date of appointment&#8221; of direct recruits should be considered: Delhi High Court","author":"Editor","date":"August 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The principle of determination of inter se seniority amongst direct recruits and promote officers makes it clear that for the purpose of fixation of inter se seniority, the date to be reckoned for the direct recruits is \"the date of appointment.\"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"delhi high court","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/delhi-high-court.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/delhi-high-court.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/delhi-high-court.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/delhi-high-court.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6798,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2015\/09\/07\/stand-on-consequential-seniority-versus-catch-up-rule-under-implementation-of-article-16-4a-clarified\/","url_meta":{"origin":239896,"position":2},"title":"Stand on consequential seniority versus catch up rule under implementation of Article 16-4A, clarified","author":"Sucheta","date":"September 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: The Bench comprising of T.S. Thakur, and R. Bhanumathi, JJ., held that in absence of provision for consequential seniority in the rules, the catch up rule will be applicable and the roster-point reserved category promotees cannot count their seniority in the promoted category from the date of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Supreme Court&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Supreme Court","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/supremecourt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":367197,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/11\/19\/supreme-court-directions-determining-seniority-in-higher-judicial-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":239896,"position":3},"title":"Annual 4-point roster to determine seniority in HJS; This &#038; other Supreme Court Directions impacting statewide HJS cadres","author":"Sucheta","date":"November 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe statutory rules governing the HJS in the respective States, in consultation with the High Courts, shall prescribe the exact modalities of the Annual Roster and how the directions of this judgement shall be implemented\u201d.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"seniority in Higher Judicial Services","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/seniority-in-Higher-Judicial-Services.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/seniority-in-Higher-Judicial-Services.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/seniority-in-Higher-Judicial-Services.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/seniority-in-Higher-Judicial-Services.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":291978,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2023\/05\/12\/supreme-court-stays-promotion-of-judicial-officers-as-district-judge-in-gujarat\/","url_meta":{"origin":239896,"position":4},"title":"Supreme Court stays Gujarat Govt&#8217;s \u2018rushed\u2019 decision to promote judicial officers as District Judges; says \u2018State could\u2019ve waited till next hearing\u2019","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"May 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Gujarat Government had issued the impugned Notification dated 18.04.2023 during the pendency of the present writ petition and after receiving the notice issued by the Court. The Supreme Court observed that the State Government could have waited till the next date of hearing which was on 28.04.2023.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"promotion of judicial officers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/promotion-of-judicial-officers.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/promotion-of-judicial-officers.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/promotion-of-judicial-officers.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/promotion-of-judicial-officers.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":194567,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2018\/03\/30\/promotions-in-up-higher-judicial-service-cant-be-given-in-the-absence-of-suitability-test-sc\/","url_meta":{"origin":239896,"position":5},"title":"Promotions in UP Higher Judicial Service can\u2019t be given in the absence of suitability test: SC","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"March 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: Deciding the validity of determination of seniority of promotee and direct recruit Higher Judicial Service (HJS) officers in the State of Uttar Pradesh, the bench of AK Goel and RF Nariman, JJ held that the promotees could not be given promotion without suitability test nor could they claim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}