Employee With Requisite Educational Qualification Eligible For Promotion Regardless Of Criteria Being Fulfilled Prior To Or During Service: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has held that a candidate that has the required educational qualification deserves to be promoted upon satisfying all other criteria. It was held that it is immaterial whether such criteria were fulfilled prior to the service or during it.

“….. a candidate if is already having qualification to his credit prior to entering into the service and, he is equally entitled to be considered for promotion on the post of Junior Engineer within 5% quota provided within the rules,” held Justice Ajit Kumar.

The Court held that rules of promotions are to be construed liberally to avoid stagnation in employees as well as to boost morale. Accordingly, it was held that similarly placed employees should be given similar opportunities of promotion.

Case Background

Petitioner working as Storekeeper Grade-1 under the respondent corporation. By an order dated 27.04.2017, his claim for promotion to the post of Junior Engineer was rejected stating that the 5% quota that was available for the post of Junior Engineer could only be availed by employees that fell in the category of Draftsmen/ Dresser/ Clerks/ Laboratory Assistants; who had the required diploma in engineering and had completed five years of regular service. Petitioner's request for promotion was reject on the grounds that he had acquired his diploma prior to entering the service and that did not fall in the category of employees eligible for promotion.

Challenging the rejection order, petitioner contended that the case of whether a candidate should have acquired the requisite qualification during the service period or before, was not entirely new as it had already been considered by the Allahabad High Court in Madhavendra Singh v. State of U.P. and Ors.

Further, he argued that the post of Storekeeper fell within the category of Group – C employees and so did the posts of Draftsemen/ Dresser/ Clerks/ Laboratory Assistants, which were eligible for promotion. Thus, the post of storekeeper was also to be considered for promotion as belonging to the same category.

High Court Verdict

On an earlier date, the Court had directed the Respondent Corporation to give details on the pay scale of the employees in question so as to establish whether the petitioner fell within the category of employees eligible for promotion. Upon perusal of the affidavit filed by the Corporation, it was held that the post of the Storekeeper was taken to be within the category of Group – C employees.

“In view of this above admitted position, it can safely (sic) concluded that post of Storekeeper falls in group 'C' category and so the posts of Storekeeper like that of Lab Assistant, Draftsmen, can be considered for promotion as Junior Engineer within 5% of quota as provided for under the relevant service rules,” held the Court.

Examining the circumstances of the appointment of the petitioner, the Court held that the only thing in its consideration was to adjudicate whether the petitioner would be entitled to be promoted in the event he had acquired qualification before entering into service. Justice Kumar held that this controversy had already been decided in the case of Madhavendra Singh.

In Madhavendra Singh, a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court had held that the requirement that a candidate should have fulfilled the required educational criteria as prescribed by the rules was intended to ensure that a candidate who was employed with the state obtained the aforementioned criteria only after seeking the permission of the state. However, the Court had held that this was not to mean that an individual who had already acquired the criteria would be barred from being granted a promotion.

“Obviously, the object and purpose is not to exclude from consideration in service candidates who have already obtained educational qualifications prescribed prior to their date of entry in service,” held the Division Bench.

The Court held that the legal principle that was to be taken into account was that one must have the requisite academic qualification of the concerned trade in order to make them eligible for the post on which the promotion had to be made. Further, it was held that the experience would only be taken into account qua the service done by an employee in a feeding cadre.

Justice Kumar held that the argument advanced by the respondent that the petitioner was not qualified for promotion because the post of Storekeeper was not mentioned in the rules, did not hold any weight. It was held that employees falling in similar or same cadres would be given the same opportunity to advance their career in service.

Accordingly, the Court held that the petitioner possessed the requisite criteria and had served for the required period under the rules. Thus, he was eligible for promotion to the post of Junior Engineer (Mechanical). The Court directed the respondents to pass an appropriate order regarding promotion of the petitioner.

Case Title: Raj Kumar v. State of U.P. And 3 Ors. [WRIT - A No. - 17005 of 2018]

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