Notional seniority entails entitlement to pay fixation and increments from the date batchmates joined service.

The applicants, Head Constable (Drivers) in the Delhi Police, participated in a recruitment process initiated in 2009

While their batch-mates were allowed to join service on 01.05.2010, the applicants' appointments were delayed due to evaluation and eligibility issues

Although their seniority was eventually fixed according to merit alongside their batch-mates, the respondents refused to grant them notional pay fixation and related service benefits from the date their peers joined

The applicants filed the present Original Application (OA) challenging the respondent's rejection dated 23.12.2025 and seeking parity with their batch-mates regarding pay fixation, MACP, and NPS contributions

1. Whether the applicants are entitled to notional appointment and pay fixation from 01.05.2010, the date their batch-mates/juniors joined service?

2. Whether the applicants are entitled to consequential benefits, including MACP and NPS contributions, based on said notional service?

the principle that when an employee is granted notional seniority, the legal fiction of service must be given full effect, including for the purposes of pay fixation, increments, and wage revisions

ratio of the Delhi High Court in Director of Education and Anr. v. Smt. Krishna Kumari [WP(C) No. 13987/2009], which held that such employees are also entitled to benefits under the Assured Career Progression (ACP) schemes

precedent in Rishikesh Meena v. Commissioner of Police [OA No. 4738/2025], which dealt with identical recruitment facts

The Tribunal noted that the respondents did not dispute that the present case was identical to Rishikesh Meena v. Commissioner of Police

It observed that the applicants were part of the same 2009 recruitment process as the beneficiaries in the cited precedents

Following the reasoning in Smt. Krishna Kumari, the Tribunal found that once seniority is fixed based on merit alongside batch-mates, denying notional pay fixation would defeat the purpose of that seniority

The Tribunal determined that the delay in the applicants' actual joining should not deprive them of parity in pay and service benefits, provided these benefits are granted on a notional basis up until the date of actual joining

The Tribunal directed the respondents to: (i) re-fix the applicants' pay and allowances at par with their batch-mates on a notional basis; (ii) grant consequential benefits and arrears from the date of actual joining; and (iii) count notional service toward the 10-year requirement for MACP

No interest was awarded on arrears

The respondents were ordered to comply within 90 days of receipt of the order