Candidates wrongfully delayed in a common selection may receive notional seniority, but not back wages.

The Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board issued Advertisement Notification No. 03 of 2006 for recruitment to posts of Physical Education Teacher, including five posts in District Jammu, one reserved for the Scheduled Caste category.

The applicant participated in the selection but was not included in the final select list. He challenged his exclusion by filing SWP No. 21/2010, during which the High Court directed that one SC post be kept reserved for him.

The SSB subsequently recommended the applicant for appointment as Physical Education Teacher, District Cadre Jammu, by Order No. 760-SSB of 2017 dated 18 December 2017.

Following contempt proceedings and extension of the validity of the selection list, the applicant was appointed on 24 May 2019 and joined on 29 May 2019.

The applicant sought a corrigendum treating his appointment as effective from 2010, when other candidates selected through the same recruitment process were appointed, together with corresponding seniority.

Whether the applicant, though formally appointed on 24 May 2019, was entitled to notional seniority from the date in 2010 when similarly situated candidates selected through the same recruitment process were appointed?

Whether such notional seniority could be granted without awarding arrears of salary for the period during which the applicant had not actually served?

The Tribunal considered Rule 24 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956, under which seniority ordinarily depends upon the date of first appointment to the relevant service, class, category or grade.

Relying on C. Jayachandran v. State of Kerala, (2020) 5 SCC 230, the Tribunal held that a candidate who diligently challenges wrongful exclusion and is subsequently appointed in relation to the same competitive selection may be granted notional seniority from the date on which other candidates from that selection were appointed.

It also relied on Union Territory of J&K v. Raghu Singh Jandla, WP(C) No. 373/2026, wherein the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court recognized notional seniority as an equitable exception where administrative delay affects a candidate’s position in a common selection process, while clarifying that notional seniority does not ordinarily create entitlement to back wages for a period during which no service was rendered.

Although seniority generally follows substantive appointment under Rule 24, the Tribunal held that the applicant’s case fell within the exceptional category of delayed appointment arising from wrongful exclusion in a common selection process.

The applicant challenged his non-selection promptly in 2010, obtained an order protecting one SC post, continuously pursued the litigation, and was ultimately recommended by the SSB itself against the same recruitment process.

Therefore, the delay in appointment could not be used to permanently place him below candidates selected through the same process.

The Tribunal treated the relief as notional rather than as actual retrospective service: the applicant’s seniority was to be fixed from the date in 2010 when similarly situated candidates were appointed, subject to his merit and the applicable reservation roster.

Since he had not actually worked before 24 May 2019, the Tribunal found no basis for awarding arrears of salary or back wages for the earlier period.

The respondents were directed to grant the applicant notional seniority in the cadre of Physical Education Teacher, District Cadre Jammu, from the date in 2010 when similarly situated candidates selected through the same process were appointed, and to place him at the appropriate position according to his selection merit and applicable reservation roster.

The respondents were further directed to issue the necessary corrigendum or order and re-fix his seniority and admissible consequential service benefits within three months of receiving the certified order.

The applicant was not entitled to arrears of salary or back wages for the period preceding his actual appointment, and the period before 24 May 2019 was to remain notional.

No order as to costs was made.