KERALA TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION LIMITED versus BASIL T K & ORS

Citation: [2022] 3 S.C.R. 1008 · Decided: 31-01-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: D.Y. CHANDRACHUD · Disposal: Disposed off

Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 3 S.C.R.
[2022] 3 S.C.R. 1008
1008
KERALA TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
CORPORATION LIMITED
v.
BASIL T K & ORS
(Civil Appeal No. 806 of 2022)
JANUARY 31, 2022
[DR. DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD AND
SURYA KANT, JJ.]
Service Law: Regularization in Service – Respondents were
appointed as Assistant Managers in the service of appellant on
contract for a period of one year in 2000 – They continued till
2006 – They were initially regularized in service on 23.02.2006 –
In 2007, however, order of regularization was cancelled - Single
Judge set aside the order by which the regularization of the
respondents was cancelled and directed to reinstate respondents in
service with retrospective effect – However, no arrears of salary
were granted – Upon their regularization, respondents were
promoted as Deputy Managers in 2014 – In 2016, Committee was
constituted for the scrutiny of the seniority and promotion of regular
employees in the managerial service of Appellant – Committee
finalized the seniority list in 2017 – Respondents filed writ petition
challenging it to the extent that they were held not entitled to count
the period of service when they stood retrenched towards increments
and promotion – High Court allowed writ petitions and directed to
grant promotion to the respondents along with arrears of salary for
the period when they were out of service and the period during
which they were kept out of service to be treated as notional service
in the post of Manager and Chief Manager – On appeal, held:
There was no justification to exclude the period during which the
respondents were not in service due to the illegal termination of
employment which was subsequently set aside – The order by which
regularization of respondents was cancelled was set aside by High
Court with direction to reinstate them in service with retrospective
effect from 12.09.2007 – This clearly implied that they were entitled
to benefit of continuity of service – However, respondents shall not
be entitled to arrears of salary for the period they were out of
service – Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation Rules
– r.18.
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Disposing of the appeals, the Court
HELD: The judgment of the Single Judge dated 9 October
2009, saves the respondents continuity of service. Therefore,
there was no justification to exclude the period during which the
respondents were not in service due to the illegal termination of
employment, which was subsequently set aside, given that the
High Court expressly saved the continuity of service. The
contention that the respondents did not satisfy the one year
residency rule in the post for the purpose of promotion is without
merit. The only distinction between the respondents and ‘AB’ is
that unlike the former, the latter was in service throughout. ‘AB’,
though appointed in 2008 in the post of Assistant Manager was
regularized retrospectively only in 2014. Inspite of not fulfilling
the one year residency criteria in each post (that is as Deputy
Manager and Manager), he was still promoted taking into account
his service as the Assistant Manager. However, this distinction
between the parties diminishes in view of the direction of the
Single Judge to grant continuity of service to the respondents.
Therefore, there is no error in the impugned judgment. However,
it only needs to be clarified that since the respondents as well as
‘AB’ hold the post of Manager from which the next promotion is
to the post of Chief Manager, the promotional post of Chief
Manager shall be filled up in accordance with the applicable
Service Rules and regulations. [Para 23][1019-D-G]
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 806 of
2022.
From the Judgment and Order dated 12.04.2019 of the High Court
of Kerala at Ernakulam in W.A. No.1137 of 2019.
With
Civil Appeal Nos. 808 and 807 of 2022.
V. Giri, Sr. Adv., Amith Krishnan, Krishna Dev Jagarlamudi, Sai
Kaushal, Kuriakose Varghese, Ms. Pooja Dhar, V. Shyamohan, Ms. Astu
Khandelwal, Roy Abraham, Ms. Reena Roy, Akhil Abraham, Aditya
Koshy, Himinder Lal, Nishe Rajen Shonker, Ms. Anu K Joy, Alim Anvar,
Advs. for the appearing parties.
KERALA TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORP. LTD. v.
BASIL T K & ORS
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 3 S.C.R.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
DR. DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. This batch of three appeals arises from the judgments of the
Division Bench of the High Court of 

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