Departmental Clerks opting into the Common Cadre must be included in a consolidated seniority list.

The applicants were Clerks/Junior Assistants appointed in various departments of the Chandigarh Administration before the introduction of the Common Cadre Recruitment Rules, 2015.

The Chandigarh Administration subsequently notified the Chandigarh Administration, Group ‘C’ (Clerk and Steno-Typist) (Common Cadre) Recruitment Rules, 2015, and the Group ‘B’ (Ministerial) (Superintendent Grade-II and Senior Assistant) Common Recruitment Rules, 2019.

In 2020, the Administration invited options from Clerks/Junior Assistants appointed outside the Common Cadre to opt for consideration under the Common Cadre for promotion to Senior Assistant.

Subsequently, following litigation initiated by certain Common Cadre employees, the Administration withdrew the option circulars by memo dated 23.09.2021 and issued a circular dated 24.09.2021 for preparation of a separate seniority list of Common Cadre Clerks.

Whether the withdrawal of the option circulars dated 16.09.2020 and 14.12.2020 was legally sustainable, despite the applicants having exercised their options for consideration under the Common Cadre?

Whether Clerks/Junior Assistants appointed in departmental cadres and those appointed under the Common Cadre could be considered together for promotion to Senior Assistant under the 2019 Rules?

Whether a single consolidated seniority list of all Clerks/Junior Assistants across the Chandigarh Administration was required to be prepared?

Whether employees who opted for the Common Cadre but were subsequently promoted within their departmental cadres during the pendency of the proceedings were entitled to inclusion in the Common Cadre seniority list?

The Tribunal applied the Chandigarh Administration, Group ‘C’ (Clerk and Steno-Typist) (Common Cadre) Recruitment Rules, 2015, under which recruitment to the specified Common Cadre posts was centralized and earlier departmental recruitment rules were repealed.

It also applied the Chandigarh Administration, Group ‘B’ (Ministerial) (Superintendent Grade-II and Senior Assistant) Common Recruitment Rules, 2019, particularly Note I, which made the Rules applicable to employees appointed under the Common Cadre as well as those appointed otherwise, and Note 2, which protected the existing seniority and promotional rights of departmental employees.

The Tribunal further relied on the principles of equality, natural justice, parity in promotional opportunity, and the requirement that senior employees should not be bypassed by juniors merely because they belonged to a subsequently created recruitment stream.

Seniority for the purpose of the Common Cadre was to be determined by considering the total length of service in the relevant cadre under the applicable service rules.

The Tribunal held that the 2019 Rules governed both categories of employees and that the existing arrangement created an inequitable distinction: employees recruited under the Common Cadre enjoyed accelerated access to pooled promotional vacancies, while earlier departmental employees remained confined to departmental promotional channels despite performing the same work and being eligible under the same 2019 Rules.

Although Note 2 protected departmental employees who continued in their parent departments, it could not be used to defeat the options already given and exercised under the 2020 circulars.

The Tribunal therefore considered restoration of the option process necessary to further the purpose of the Common Cadre and to prevent juniors from obtaining promotion ahead of seniors.

At the same time, it found that merging every employee across all departments into one unrestricted seniority list was neither administratively feasible nor practical.

Accordingly, the common list was limited to Common Cadre employees and departmental employees who had opted to join the Common Cadre.

Employees who opted but were subsequently promoted under Note 2 in their parent departments were excluded.

The Tribunal quashed and set aside the memo dated 23.09.2021 withdrawing the option circulars and the circular dated 24.09.2021 relating to the separate Common Cadre seniority list.

The respondents were directed to revive the options offered through the circulars dated 16.09.2020 and 14.12.2020 and prepare a common seniority list comprising Common Cadre employees and departmental employees who had opted for the Common Cadre, with inter se seniority determined on the basis of length of service.

The list was to be used for further promotion in the Common Cadre within three months of receipt of the certified copy of the order.

Employees subsequently promoted within their departmental cadres were to be excluded from the Common Cadre list.

No order as to costs was made.