Qualifying service for promotion is reckoned from the calendar year of joining, not the actual date.

The appellants were appointed as Sub Inspectors (Radio) after qualifying in the prescribed recruitment process and joined their posts in November 2017.

Under the Chhattisgarh Police Executive (Non-Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 2021, Inspector (Radio) was the promotional post, for which eight years’ qualifying service in the feeder post was prescribed.

The appellants relied on the Explanation to Rule 6(2) of the Chhattisgarh Public Services (Promotion) Rules, 2003, contending that qualifying service had to be calculated from the calendar year of joining rather than the actual date of joining.

The learned Single Judge accepted this position and dismissed W.P.(S) No. 11544 of 2025, holding that the appellants would complete eight years of service only in October 2025 and would become eligible for consideration from 01.01.2026.

The appellants thereafter preferred the present intra-Court appeal.

Whether the appellants’ eight-year qualifying service was required to be computed from the calendar year in which they joined the feeder cadre or from their actual dates of joining?

Whether, upon such computation, the appellants were eligible to be considered for promotion to Inspector (Radio) as on 01.01.2025, subject to fulfilment of other conditions and availability of vacancies?

The Court applied Rule 6(2) of the Chhattisgarh Public Services (Promotion) Rules, 2003, which permits consideration for promotion only of public servants who have completed the qualifying service prescribed by the applicable Recruitment Rules.

Its Explanation expressly provides that qualifying service as on 1 January of the relevant year is to be counted from the calendar year in which the employee joined the feeder cadre, and not from the actual date of joining.

The Court also applied Schedule IV of the Chhattisgarh Police Executive (Non-Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 2021, prescribing eight years’ service for promotion from Sub Inspector (Radio) to Inspector (Radio), and Rule 16, which requires eligibility to be assessed as on the first day of January of the relevant year.

The Court further noted that the availability of vacancies does not create an absolute right to promotion, but requires eligible employees to be considered by the competent Departmental Promotion Committee in accordance with the governing rules.

The Court held that the language of the Explanation to Rule 6(2) was clear and deliberately excluded the actual date of joining as the basis for computation.

Since the appellants joined the feeder cadre during the calendar year 2017, the entire year 2017 was to be treated as the first year of qualifying service.

Accordingly, the eight years were completed by counting 2017 as the first year and 2024 as the eighth year.

Therefore, the appellants had completed the prescribed qualifying service as on 01.01.2025.

The Single Judge’s reliance on the actual dates of joining and conclusion that eligibility would arise only from 01.01.2026 were inconsistent with the express statutory method of computation.

The Court clarified that consideration for promotion remained subject to all other eligibility requirements and vacancy position.

The respondents were directed to consider the appellants’ cases for promotion to Inspector (Radio), treating them as having completed eight years of qualifying service as on 01.01.2025.

Such consideration was to be undertaken by the competent Departmental Promotion Committee, subject to fulfilment of all other eligibility conditions and availability of vacancies, with consequential benefits in accordance with law.