Long-term discharge of higher-post duties warrants consideration for promotion and additional incentives, subject to eligibility.

The petitioner was appointed as a Sub-Jailor under the Home (Jail) Department after being selected through the Tripura Public Service Commission and joined service on 19 May 2014.

By order dated 13 May 2022, he was directed to discharge the duties of Jailor-in-Charge at Kendriya Sansodhanagar, Bishalgarh, while continuing to hold his substantive post of Sub-Jailor.

He claimed that, under the applicable recruitment rules, completion of ten years’ service as Sub-Jailor made him eligible for promotion to Jailor, and that he had become eligible on 19 May 2024.

The petitioner asserted that a Jailor post was vacant and that his name stood first in the provisional seniority list of Sub-Jailors.

His representation dated 09 July 2025 and advocate’s notice dated 24 November 2025 allegedly received no effective response.

The State opposed the petition, contending that promotion was not a vested right, that the petitioner was only temporarily entrusted with Jailor duties, and that he was therefore not entitled to the Jailor pay scale or automatic promotion.

Whether the petitioner, having completed the prescribed qualifying service and being eligible under the applicable rules, was entitled to consideration for promotion to the post of Jailor?

Whether the petitioner was entitled to financial benefits or additional incentives for discharging the duties of Jailor-in-Charge from 13 May 2022?

Whether the respondents could deny consideration for promotion merely on the ground that promotion was discretionary and dependent upon administrative exigencies, despite the existence of a vacant Jailor post?

The Court applied Article 16(1) of the Constitution, under which an eligible employee has a fundamental right to be considered for promotion, though not an absolute right to promotion, as explained in Ajit Singh (II) v. State of Punjab, (1999) 7 SCC 209.

The Court also considered the applicable recruitment-rule requirement of ten years’ service as Sub-Jailor for eligibility for promotion to Jailor.

On financial benefits for performing higher duties, the Court relied on Selvaraj v. Lt. Governor, Island, Port Blair, (1998) 4 SCC 291, which recognizes payment of the difference in salary where an employee has actually discharged the functions of a higher post, without such payment itself amounting to promotion.

The Court referred to the Tripura Government notification dated 22 June 2021 concerning ad hoc promotions and the filling of resultant vacancies.

The Court found that the petitioner had continuously served as a Sub-Jailor since 19 May 2014, had completed the prescribed qualifying period, and was performing the duties of Jailor-in-Charge from 13 May 2022.

Although the State correctly contended that promotion could not be claimed as an automatic or vested right, the Court held that this did not permit the respondents to disregard the petitioner’s right to fair consideration under Article 16(1).

The existence of a vacant Jailor post, the petitioner’s asserted eligibility, and the prolonged entrustment of higher duties were considered significant circumstances.

The respondents had not placed any adverse material or specific disqualification against the petitioner; their reliance on general administrative discretion was therefore insufficient to justify refusing consideration.

Regarding remuneration, the Court considered that the petitioner had been performing Jailor duties for a substantial period without additional financial benefit.

Following the principle in Selvaraj, it directed the respondents to consider appropriate additional incentives for the period of such higher duties, while not treating the direction as an automatic grant of promotion or necessarily as an order granting the full Jailor pay scale.

The respondents were further directed, within the same period, to consider granting additional incentives for the duties performed by him as Jailor-in-Charge from 13 May 2022.

The Court did not grant an automatic promotion or directly award the Jailor salary for the entire period.

Pending applications, if any, were also disposed of.