CUTTACK: A single-judge bench of the Orissa High Court has upheld the state government’s decision revising inter se seniority between direct recruits and promotee officers in the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) Group-A (Junior Branch), dismissing a batch of petitions challenging the move.
In a judgment dated May 6, Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy ruled that the state’s November 15, 2021 notification, which fixed seniority based on the date of joining, did not warrant judicial interference.
The dispute arose after direct recruits, appointed in March 2016 against the 2011 recruitment year, challenged the revised gradation list that placed promotee officers above them. The petitioners argued that they had been correctly ranked higher in the final gradation list published on March 8, 2019, and that seniority should be determined based on recruitment year rather than joining date.
Promotee officers, on the other hand, were initially given ad hoc promotions in October 2015 and later regularised in April 2017. They belonged to the 2015 recruitment year but had joined service earlier than the direct recruits.
Justice Satapthy examined Rule 11 of the Odisha Administrative Service (Method of Recruitment & Conditions of Service) Rules, 2011, which governs seniority. “It is not disputed that inter se seniority of the direct recruitees and promotees in the rank of OAS Group-A(JB) is governed under Rule 11 of the Odisha Administrative Service (Method of Recruitment & Conditions of Service) Rules, 2011,” he noted.
However, Justice Satapathy emphasised that the rules do not define ‘recruitment year’ and are silent on fixing seniority where appointments and promotions occur in different recruitment years. “Rule 11 cannot be relied on, so far as the present dispute is concerned,” the judgment observed.
Highlighting the factual timeline, Justice Satapathy recorded that promotee officers were promoted on October 17, 2015, and joined earlier, while direct recruits were appointed on March 4, 2016. “Since the promotees admittedly have joined in the cadre of OAS Group-A (JB) ahead of the Petitioners, it is the view of this Court that they are required to be placed above the direct recruitees,” the order stated.
Concluding that the government’s decision was legally sound, the court held that the impugned order has been rightly passed and it requires no interference. The batch of petitions was accordingly dismissed.