Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 11: Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Jammu Member (A) Bhagwan Dass, while deciding the controversy over the promotion of 1995 Executive and 1998 Armed Police officers, has held that seniority of Sub Inspectors in various wings of J&K Police should be prepared and maintained as common seniority only prospectively.
After hearing Senior Advocates Abhinav Sharma, Rahul Pant and Sunil Sethi for the petitioners whereas Amit Gupta, Additional Advocate General for the UT, and carefully considering the contentions of the applicants, the CAT observed, “the view taken by the Judicial Member for retrospective maintenance of common seniority of the applicants and private respondents can have serious implications for the Jammu and Kashmir Police force”.
“This view is impracticable, only theoretical and not sustainable. Since wing-wise seniority lists have been fixed and maintained for various wings for such a long time from 1960 onwards, seniority fixation and further promotions in career progression of a large number of Sub Inspectors who joined the J&K Police Force after 1960 had already taken place. Thus the maintenance of seniority lists in that manner has become settled from time to time”, the CAT said.
“If the seniority lists at this stage are to be fixed retrospectively, then the settled position of seniority and promotions based thereon in the whole Police Force will have to be unsettled, resulting in impractical results. If at all such a view for seniority refixation is to be taken in theoretical terms, it cannot be kept limited only from the time when the present applicants joined as Sub Inspectors in 1995”, the Tribunal said, adding “logically the principle will have to be applied from 1960 onwards and if the present applications are allowed for refixing and maintaining seniority of the Sub Inspectors retrospectively, then the case will not remain limited to the present applicants”.
“This will open up a Pandora’s Box and give rise to avoidable multiple litigations thereby creating wide spread resentment, tension and strained relations among members of Jammu & Kashmir Police. Since a large number of Sub Inspectors who joined in different wings from 1960 onwards and based on their separate seniority lists, they must have got promoted and some of them might have even superannuated, for those persons fixation of seniority has by now become a dead issue”, the CAT said, adding “for others who are still in service but have been promoted to the higher posts in the meantime, if not a dead issue, but it has certainly become a stale issue which should not be raked up now”.
“If the seniority of Sub Inspectors in different wings of J&K Police is to be maintained now as common, then it has to be done only prospectively. This has now been started by Government of Jammu & Kashmir, Home Department through notification dated 01.07.2021 by amending Rule 172 of J&K Police Rules, 1960 by inserting Sub Rule 172(5) stipulating that common seniority lists of Sub Inspectors appointed after issuance of notification against any direct recruitment posts in the Executive and Armed Wings of Police Department should be maintained”, the Tribunal said.
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