Inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees – Instructions

Inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees – Instructions issued by DOPT in view of Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgment on 27.11.2012

No. 20011/1/2012-Estt. (D)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension
Department of Personnel & Training
North Block, New Delhi,
Dated the 4th March, 2014
OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees – instructions thereof

The undersigned is directed to refer to the subject mentioned above and to say that the fundamental principles of inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees in Central Civil Services/posts were laid down in the Departmentof Personnel & Training (DOPT) O.M. No. 9/11/55-RPS dated 29.12.1959 which provided, Inter alia, that the relative seniority of direct recruits and of promotees shall be determined according to the rotation of vacancies between direct recruits and promotees, which shall be based on the quotas of vacancies reserved for direct recruitment and promotion respectively, in the Recruitment Rules.
2. The carrying forward of unfilled slots of a vacancy year, for being filled up by direct recruits of later years, was dispensed with through modified instructions contained in DOPT O.M. No.35014/2/80-Estt.(D) dated 7.2.1986 which provides that rotation of quotas for purpose of determining seniority would take place only to the extent of the available direct recruits and the promotees. The unfilled direct recruitment/promotion quota vacancies would be carried forward and added to the corresponding direct recruitment/promotion quota vacancies of the next year (and to subsequent years where necessary) for taking action for the total number of direct recruitment/promotional according to the usual practice. Thereafter, in that year, while seniority will be determined between direct recruits and promotees, to the extent of the number of vacancies for direct recruits and promotees, as determined according to the quota for that year, the additional direct recruits/promotees selected against the carried forward vacancies of the previous year, would be placed en-bloc below the last promotee/direct recruit, asthe case may be, in the seniority list, based on the rotation of vacancies for that year.
3. All the existing instructions on seniority were consolidated by DOPT through a single OM. No. 22011/7/86 Estt(D) dated 03.07.1986.
4. In view of divergent stance taken by different Ministries/Departments on interpretation of ‘available direct recruits and promotees’ in the context of OM dated 7.2.86, the DoPT had issued O.M. No. 20011/1/2006-Estt.(D) dated 3.3.2008 which provided that the actual year of appointment, both in the case of direct/recruits and promotees, would be reckoned as the year of availability for the purpose of rotation and fixation of inter se seniority.
5. The matter has been examined in pursuance of Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgment on 27.11.2012, in Civil Appeal No. 7514-7515/2005 in the case of N.R.Parmar vs. UOl & Ors in consultation with the Department of Legal Affairs and it has been decided, that the manner of determination of Inter-se-seniority of directrecruits and promotes would be as under:
a) DoPT OM No. 20011/1/2006Æstt.(D) dated 3.3.2008 is treated as non-existent / withdrawn ab initio;
b) The rotation of quota based on the available direct recruits and promotees appointed against the vacancies of a Recruitment Year, as provided In DOPT O.M. dated 7.2.1986/3.07.1986, would continue to operate for determination of inter se seniority between direct recruits and promotees;
c) The available direct recruits and promotees, for assignment of inter se seniority, would refer to the direct recruits and promotees who are appointed against the vacancies of a Recruitment Year;
d) Recruitment Year would be the year of initiating the recruitment process against a vacancy year;
e) Initiation of recruitment process against a vacancy year would be the date of sending of requisition for filling up of vacancies to the recruiting agency in the case of direct recruits; in the case of promotees the date on which a proposal, complete In all respects, is sent to UPSC/Chairmarn-DPC for convening of DPC to fill up the vacancies through promotion would be the relevant date.
f) The initiation of recruitment process for any of the modes viz, direct recruitment or promotion would be deemed to be the Initiation of recruitment process for the other mode as well;
g) Carry forward of vacancies against direct recruitment or promotion quota would be determined from the appointments made against the first attempt for filling up of the vacancies for a Recruitment Year;
h) The above principles for determination of inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees would be effective from 27.11.2012, the date of Supreme Court Judgment in Civil Appeal No. 7514-7515/2005 In the case of N.R. Parmar Vs. UOl & Ors
I) The cases of seniority already settled with reference to the applicable interpretation of the term availability, as contained in DoPT O.M. dated 7.2.86/3.7.86 may not be reopened.
7. As the conferment of seniority would be against the Recruitment Year in which the recruitment process is initiated for filling up of the vacancies, It is incumbent upon all administrative authorities to ensure that the recruitment process is initiated during the vacancy year itself. While requisition for filling up the vacancies for direct recruitment should be sent to the recruiting agency, complete in all respects, during the vacancy year itself, the timelines specified in the Model Calendar for DPCs contained in DoPT O.M. No.22011/9/98-Estt(D)dated 8.9.98 and the Consolidated Instructions on DPCs contained In O.M.No.22011/S/86-Estt(D) dated April 10, 1989 should be scrupulously adhered to, for filling up the vacancies against promotion quota.

Download DOPT Office Memorandum No. 20011/1/2012-Estt. (D) dated 04.03.2014

One Comment

  1. I wanted to know about seniority promotion. In am from an autonomous body, where in 2011 direct recruitment was done for the post of LDC. Now since then, the org stopped direct recruitment for LDC and directly released an ad for direct UDC recruitments in 2012.
    So i was recruited in UDC direct recruitment, add published in 2012, exam conducted and final result and call letter issued in 2013 aug.
    now when the first candidate from my batch joined in aug 2013, the org promoted all the LDC of 2011 batch to UDC with him, making them senior to him, and all consequent candidates who joined from Direct UDC recruitment exam in 2013 an 2014.
    So my question is, since the recruitment add for direct UDC recruitment was published in 2011, so the vacancy against which we are appointment was of 2011. However, the LDCs which were promoted had joined as LDC in 2011 only. They were promoted only because Direct recruitment of LDCs was stopped.
    So, isn;t there some seniority rule which gives seniority to UDC selected against advertisement published in 2011, rather than those posted as LDC in 2011, and promoted as UDC in 2013 only because our batch was appointed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *