RANCHI, India, Feb. 25 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on Jan. 27:

1. Heard the parties.

2. The petitioner is aggrieved by part of the order dated 17.12.2021 by which the promotion of the petitioner has been turned down.

3. After hearing the counsel for the parties and after going through the impugned order, I find that the petitioner has prayed for promotion in Grade-VII Scale on the basis of seniority and admittedly Grade-VII Scale is a promotional post, where the person is posted and promoted as the Principal. All the other grades except Grade-IV are only financial upgradation. In this case, claiming promotion in Grade-VII means praying for promotion to a particular post.

4. Though the petitioner was the senior most but now as things stands today, the petitioner has already superannuated. The petitioner cannot assume the said post. If the petitioner cannot assume the post, no benefit can be granted to him as it is not proper to grant retrospective promotion to a particular post. If the same had been a pay-scale, the matter would have been different but here it is not.

5. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case "Government of West Bengal and Others Versus Dr. Amal Satpathi and Others reported in 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3512" at paragraph No.21 has held as under:-

"21. While we recognize respondent No. 1's right to be considered for promotion, which is a fundamental right under Articles 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution of India, he does not hold an absolute right to the promotion itself. The legal precedents discussed above establish that promotion only becomes effective upon the assumption of duties on the promotional post and not on the date of occurrence of the vacancy or the date of recommendation. Considering that respondent No. 1 superannuated before his promotion was effectuated, he is not entitled to retrospective financial benefits associated to the promotional post of Chief Scientific Officer, as he did not serve in that capacity."

6. In view of the fact and the judgement cited above, no relief can be granted to this petitioner, this writ petition stands dismissed.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.