Promotion-date grievances must be pursued through the Bihar Government Servant Grievance Redressal Rules, 2019.

The petitioner, a Bihar Administrative Service officer, challenged Letter No. 20025 dated 27 October 2023, by which his representation seeking rectification of his Performance Appraisal Reports (PARs) for 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 was rejected on limitation grounds.

He alleged that low grades were awarded by the Reviewing Authority on the basis of allegations from his tenure as District Minority Welfare Officer, Darbhanga, despite his subsequent exoneration and the higher grades awarded by the Reporting Authority.

He also sought promotion to the post of Joint Secretary on the basis of the 2023 Seniority Civil List, contending that junior officers had been promoted.

During the pendency of the writ petition, the petitioner’s grievance was substantially redressed, but he disputed the date from which his promotion was granted, stating that promotion had been given only from 2025 onwards.

The State submitted that the petitioner could pursue the statutory grievance mechanism under the Bihar Government Servant Grievance Redressal Rules, 2019.

1. Whether the petitioner’s remaining grievance concerning the date of his promotion could be pursued under the Bihar Government Servant Grievance Redressal Rules, 2019.

2. Whether the writ petition should be disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to file a complaint before the concerned authority under the 2019 Rules.

The Court applied the Bihar Government Servant Grievance Redressal Rules, 2019. Rule 2(c) defines “complaint” to include matters relating to service benefits, including promotion, ACP, MACP, and related service issues, subject to specified exclusions.

Rule 3(a) permits any serving or retired Bihar State Government employee to file an online complaint concerning service matters or retirement benefits, while Rule 3(b) requires a separate complaint for each subject.

The Court further applied the principle that where an efficacious statutory or administrative grievance-redressal mechanism is available, the employee should ordinarily avail that remedy for the surviving service grievance.

The Court noted that the petitioner’s principal grievances regarding his PARs and promotion had substantially been addressed during the pendency of the proceedings, leaving primarily the dispute regarding the effective date of promotion.

Since promotion-related grievances expressly fall within the definition of “complaint” under Rule 2(c), and Rule 3 prescribes a specific procedure for presenting such complaints, the Court considered the statutory grievance mechanism appropriate for adjudicating the remaining issue.

Rather than determining the disputed promotion date in the writ proceedings, the Court directed the petitioner to approach the competent authority under the 2019 Rules, which was required to decide the complaint within the time prescribed by those Rules.

The petitioner was granted liberty, and directed, to file a complaint before the concerned authority under the Bihar Government Servant Grievance Redressal Rules, 2019 within 30 days from the date of judgment.

The concerned authority was directed to decide the matter strictly within the time prescribed under the Rules.