Seniority Reckons From Appointment Date, Not From Examination Date.

The respondent department advertised on February 17, 2012, inviting applications from eligible in-service employees for a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for the post of STA-B.

The applicant was one of the candidates.

Another employee, Sri Jayant Kumar Ranjit, challenged the advertisement in OA No. 239/2012, leading to an interim order that the selection results should not be published without the Bench's leave.

The examination was conducted, with the applicant and Mrs. S. Senapati appearing.

On June 22, 2017, in OA No. 239/2012, the Bench cancelled the selection process and directed a fresh selection.

This order was challenged by the applicant before the Hon'ble High Court of Orissa in WP(C) No. 19137/2017, where the High Court quashed the Bench's order on May 11, 2022.

Subsequently, the applicant received an offer of appointment on December 21, 2022, and joined the post of STA-B on the same day.

The applicant then sought seniority by antedating her appointment to March 27, 2012 (the date of the examination), submitting representations on April 6, 2023, June 21, 2023, and December 5, 2023.

Alleging inaction, she filed the present Original Application (OA).

The respondents filed a counter-objection, and the applicant filed a rejoinder.

Whether the applicant is entitled to have her seniority for the post of STA-B reckoned from the date the examination was conducted (March 27, 2012), instead of her actual date of joining (December 21, 2022).

Seniority cannot be claimed from a date when the incumbent was not borne in the cadre.

Selected candidates do not have service-related rights from the initiation of the recruitment process.

Promotion cannot be given retrospective effect from a date when the person was not part of the cadre, as this would violate Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

Judicial precedents are fact-specific and a difference in facts can lead to a different conclusion.

K. Meghachandra Singh & Ors v. Ningam Siro & Ors (Civil Appeal No. 8833-8835 of 2019, dated November 19, 2019).

Govt. of West Bengal & Ors v. Dr. Amal Satpathy & Ors. (2024 INSC 906).

Sunaina Sharma & Ors v. State of Jammu and Kashmir & Ors ((2018) 11 SCC 413).

State of Rajasthan v. Ganeshi Lal (2007 AIR SCW 7810).

The court analyzed the applicant's claim that the delay in selection and appointment, not attributable to her, should grant her seniority from the examination date of March 27, 2012.

The applicant failed to present any specific rule provision supporting such antedated seniority.

The court distinguished the cases cited by the applicant as having "completely different and distinct" facts and issues, thereby rendering them inapplicable.

The court found the decisions relied upon by the respondents' counsel to be persuasive, reiterating that no person can be promoted retrospectively from a date they were not part of the cadre without violating Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, and that seniority must be counted from the date of entry into service.

This principle was reinforced by the Supreme Court's ruling in K. Meghachandra Singh & Ors, which explicitly stated that a candidate acquires no service-related rights from the date of advertisement or initiation of the recruitment process, only becoming a selected candidate upon completion of the process.

The court also noted concurrence from the jurisdictional High Court of Orissa and its own Bench on the principle that seniority accrues from the date of appointment into the cadre.

Since the applicant joined the post of STA-B on December 21, 2022, her request to antedate her seniority to March 27, 2012, based on the examination date, was dismissed.

The OA failed and was accordingly dismissed.