Summary
The Court upheld the seniority of departmental recruits over open-market direct recruits to Rajasthan’s newly created Tax Assistant cadre. Under amended Rule 27, appointment dates governed inter-source seniority. The protection for an earlier selection applied to successive selections from the same source. The direct recruits’ earlier advertisement did not give them precedence over departmental recruits appointed earlier in this first composite recruitment.
Issues
- How amended Rule 27 and its second proviso governed seniority between departmental and open-market recruits to the newly created cadre.
Provisions considered
- Rule 27, as amended on 10 October 2002, and second proviso, Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Subordinate Services (General Branch) Rules, 1975Applied appointment-date seniority between the two recruitment streams, construing the earlier-selection protection as applicable to successive selections from the same source. (¶¶ 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32)
Held
- The amended main rule fixes seniority by appointment date. The second proviso preserves precedence for recruits selected through an earlier process over those from a later process within the same source, including successive batches of direct recruits or departmental promotees; it does not give one recruitment stream precedence merely because its advertisement came first. (¶¶ 29, 30)
- This was the first recruitment to a newly created cadre through the two prescribed streams. Administrative requirements, including antecedent verification, explained the delay affecting the direct recruits. Giving the departmental recruits seniority according to their earlier appointment dates was justified under Rule 27. (¶¶ 2, 3, 19, 20, 32)
Result
Appeals dismissed without costs; the Division Bench judgment upholding the departmental recruits’ seniority remained undisturbed.