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2019 (4) TMI 1954 - HC - Indian LawsSeniority in Job - Rules of service - once persons from different sources enter a common category, how should their seniority be reckoned? - Is it from the date of their entering and continuously officiating in the service or from the date of their acquiring qualification to reach that common category? HELD THAT:- The petitioner's date of initial appointment as a primary school teacher was 1-3-1972; then, he had S.S.C. He, however, improved his qualification in 1981, by passing Diploma in Education (D.Ed.). On the other hand, the respondent No. 2 was initially appointed on 1-7-1973; then he too had S.S.C. But he acquired the D.Ed., in 1980; that is, one year before the petitioner could. If the seniority was to be reckoned from the date of initial appointment and continuous officiation, the petitioner would emerge senior. If the seniority was to be counted from the date of the teacher's acquiring the requisite qualification (D.Ed. in the present case), respondent No. 2 would be senior. The learned Full Bench has observed that an employee must belong to the same stream before he can claim seniority vis-a-vis others. With an improved qualification, the person may join the regular stream. At that point of confluence with the regular stream, those who have already been in the stream "can claim seniority vis-a-vis those who join the same stream later." Emphatic is the observation that "the late comers to the regular stream cannot steal a march over the early arrivals in the regular queue." This Court's series of judicial pronouncements as cited, with the final cap by the Supreme Court's VIMAN VAMAN AWALE VERSUS GANGADHAR MAKHRIYA CHARITABLE TRUST [2014 (8) TMI 1210 - SUPREME COURT] unmistakably lays down the law: Among Primary Teachers, the seniority is counted from the date of the teacher's joining service. On the other hand, among the Secondary Teachers, the seniority is counted based on when the teachers had been placed in a particular category--for their seniority stands graded and categorized by the date of their very joining. This categorization is qualification-dependent. Placed in the descending order of category, the teachers rise in ranks of seniority with their additionally acquired qualifications under Guideline (2) of Schedule F, appended to Rule 12 of the MEPS Rules. A teacher who is a member of a lower category can in no manner rank senior to the teacher who is already a member of a higher category. Such a claim could be based neither on his continuous service nor on his acquiring the qualification and reaching the higher category. To be specific a teacher, for example, in Category D, E, or F, on later migration to Category C, cannot steal a march over a teacher already ensconced in that higher Category. That teacher's seniority by length of service and by his or her later acquiring the requisite, additional, or even superior qualifications does not defeat the right of teachers already found placed in Category C. What applies to Primary Teachers cannot apply to Secondary Teachers, for the Rules do keep these two streams of teachers unmixed. Once, secondary teachers enter a common category from different sources, how should their seniority be reckoned: is it from the date of their entering and continuously officiating or from the date of their acquiring qualification to reach that common category? - The seniority must be reckoned from the date they entered the desired category; that is, from the date they acquired the necessary qualification, but not from the date of their entry into service. Is there any universal principle for this proposition or does it depend on the rules of service? - No. the seniority in any cadre depends on the statutory position--principal or subordinate--that governs the employees of an establishment. Here, it is governed by the Guidelines in Schedule F, under Rule 12, of MEPS Rules. The writ petitions is allowed holding that: (a) The two Government Circulars of 24th January 2017 and 14th November 2017 may stand unaffected vis-a-vis the Primary Teachers. (b) Those two Government Circulars, however, cannot be sustained vis-a-vis the Secondary Teachers, to the extent those GRs mandate that the teachers' seniority be reckoned from the date of their first appointment and continuous service. (c) The Government and the authorities concerned, including the School Managements, will recalibrate the relative seniority of the Secondary Teachers based on the Category they belong to and based on when they have entered that Category.
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