Absorbed Employees Cannot Claim Service Benefits for Period Prior to Date of Specified Absorption Order

The three petitioners were initially appointed as Shiksha Karmi Grade-3 between 1999 and 2005 under the M.P. Panchayat Shiksha Karmi Rules, 1997.

Following the formation of Chhattisgarh, their services were absorbed into the School Education Department as Assistant Teachers (L.B.) effective July 1, 2018, under specific conditions set by an order dated June 30, 2018.

On October 31, 2022, the District Education Officer promoted 170 Assistant Teachers to the post of Head Master, Primary School, but excluded the petitioners.

The petitioners challenged this exclusion, alleging that juniors were promoted ahead of them and further seeking "Time Bound Pay Scales" for completing 10/20 years of service.

1. Whether the petitioners are entitled to promotion to the post of Head Master, Primary School, ahead of their juniors based on their seniority-cum-merit.

2. Whether the petitioners are eligible for the grant of a "Time Bound Pay Scale" based on their total length of service including the period prior to their absorption.

The court applied the Chhattisgarh School Education Services (Educational and Administrative Cadre) Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 2019, specifically Schedule I and Schedule III (Column 10), which stipulate that "trained" status (possession of B.Ed., D.Ed., or B.Lib.) is a mandatory eligibility criterion for promotion.

Furthermore, the court relied on the administrative order dated June 30, 2018, issued by the School Education Department, which dictates that service benefits for absorbed teachers shall only be calculated from the date of absorption (July 1, 2018) and that prior services in the Panchayat Department will not be counted for such benefits.

The court found that the petitioners failed to meet the basic eligibility criteria for promotion because they fell under the "untrained category," lacking the requisite B.Ed. or D.Ed. qualifications mandated by the Rules of 2019.

Regarding the claim for a Time Bound Pay Scale, the court reasoned that since the petitioners accepted the terms of the absorption order dated June 30, 2018, they are bound by the condition that seniority and service benefits accrue only from July 1, 2018.

Consequently, as of the date of the petition, the petitioners had not completed the requisite 10 years of service within the School Education Department necessary to trigger the first time-bound pay scale.

The court held that the petitioners cannot retrospectively claim benefits by deviating from the conditions they accepted at the time of absorption.

It held that the petitioners were ineligible for promotion due to a lack of professional qualifications and were not entitled to a time-bound pay scale as they had not completed 10 years of service from the date of their absorption into the department.

No relief was granted.