RAMESH CHANDRA SHARMA & ORS. versus STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR.

Citation: [2017] 7 S.C.R. 578 · Decided: 23-08-2017 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: KURIAN JOSEPH · Disposal: Disposed off

Judgment (excerpt)

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A 
[2017] 7 S.C.R. 578 
RAMESH CHANDRA SHARMA & ORS. 
v. 
STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR. 
(Civil Appeal Nos.10787-10788 of 2017) 
B 
AUGUST23,2017 
(KURIAN JOSEPH AND R. BANUMATHI, JJ.j 
Service Law: 
Forest Service - Promotion - Fixation of seniority under 
C 
Madhya Pradesh Class III (Non-Ministerial) Forest Service 
Recruitment Rules, 1967 - The Foresters, who were recruiter! and 
deputed to different circles, approached the Tribunal with a specific 
grievance that on account of posting in a particular circle, some of 
the Foresters got accelerated promotions to the post of Deputy 
D Ranger and, thereafter to the post of Forest Ranger; thereby, the 
erstwhile juniors in the cadre of Foresters in the same service, solely 
on fortuitous circumstances, became their seniors in the cadre of 
Rangers - Held: The legal position is that the members of the same 
service getting accelerated promotion merely on account of 
fortuitous postings in a particular circle cannot steal a march over 
E their seniors in the higher posts in the same service - However, in 
the instant case, none of the parties could explain how the seniority 
is fixed in the cadre of Foresters, f)eputy Rangers and Rangers -
Therefore, matter is remitted to High Court for consideration afresh 
- Appeal disposed of 
F 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal :tfos.10787-
G 
H 
10788 of2017. 
From the Judgment and Orders dated 07.11.2003 and 19.03.2004 
passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Writ Petition 
No.4717 of2001 and Review Petition MC.C No.372 of2004 respectively 
WITH 
Civil Appeal N os.l 079 J -I 0792 of 2017. 
Civil Appeal No.10793 of2017. 
Civil Appeal Nos. I 0789-10790of2017. 
578 
RAMESH CHANDRA SHARMA & ORS. v. STATE OF MADHYA 579 
PRADESH & ANR. 
Amalpushp Shroti, Adv. for the Appellants. 
A 
Mishra Saurabh, Anldt Kumar Lal, Advs. for the Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
KURIAN, J. I. Leave granted. 
2. The simple issue for consideration in this case pertains to the 
B 
fixation of seniority under the Madhya Pradesh Class III (Non-Ministerial) 
Forest Service Recruitment Rules, 1967. Under Rule 4, the 'service' 
consists of, for the purpose of the case before us, Serial No. 1 - Forest 
Ranger, Serial No. 7 - Deputy Ranger and Serial No. 16 - Forester. 
3. It appears that the Foresters, who were recruited and deputed 
C 
to different circles, approached the Tribunai with a specific grievance 
that on account of posting in a particular circle, some of the Foresters 
got accelerated promotions to the post of Deputy Ranger and, thereafter' 
to the post of Forest Ranger, thereby, the erstwhile juniors in the cadre 
of Foresters in the same service, solely on fortuitous circumstances, 
D 
have become their seniors in the cadre of Rangers. It is further submitted 
that it has affected their future prospects as well. 
4. The Tribunal, by order dated 12.05.1999, held as under:-
" .... Promotion to the post of Deputy Ranger in different circles 
would not only merely depend upon the number of vacancies 
E 
available in the circle but also on fortuitous circumstance of 
the timing of the meeting of the Departmental Promotion 
Committee over which no Forester would have any control. 
The system is iniquitous and unfair and likely to prejudice 
the Senior Foresters. Since the recruitment is made centrally 
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to the post of Forester and they are appointed simultaneously 
after training, it is necessary that the inter-se-seniority at the 
time of their appointment to the service is maintained and 
that such inter-se-seniority does not get altered for no fault 
of the Senior Foresters on account of the system which is 
adopted by the respondent State in making promotions to the 
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post of Deputy Rangers. Since the promotion from the post 
of Deputy Ranger to the post of Ranger is made at the State 
Level and for this purpose, seniority list of Deputy Rangers 
is drawn out at the State level, the promotion to the post of 
Deputy Ranger should also be made by a Central Screening/ H 
580 
A 
B 
c 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 7 S.C.R. 
Promotion Committee so that the interest of the Senior 
Foresters is safeguarded and they get their promotion earlier 
than their juniors .. =.:_' 
5. In these circumstances, the Tribunal took the view at Paragraph 
9 as under:-
" .... The correct course in our view would be that inter-se-
seniority for promotion of Deputy Ranger to the

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