SC on Karnataka Civil Services Rules & Seniority: Impact of Medical Transfer on Employee Seniority
The Supreme Court clarified on the principles governing seniority upon transfer to a new cadre at the employee's own request, due to medical infirmity, and held that the employee's seniority in the new post should be determined from the date of entry into that cadre.
The present appeal arose from a dispute concerning the seniority of K.C. Devaki, who had been originally appointed as Staff Nurse in the Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy Department in 1979. She had petitioned for cadre change to First Division Assistant because of a medical condition, and the government granted her request after receiving a medical board's report to the effect that she was not fit to serve as Staff Nurse anymore. The order dated 19.04.1989, issued under Rule 16(a)(iii) of the Karnataka Civil Services (General Recruitment) Rules, 1977, explicitly stated that upon cadre change, she would be placed with seniority below the last candidate on that date, a condition to which the respondent had consented.
Subsequently, when a seniority list was released in 2007, K.C. Devaki challenged it before the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, claiming her seniority should be reckoned from her initial appointment as Staff Nurse in 1979. The Tribunal allowed her application, a decision which was upheld by the High Court.
The Supreme Court strongly emphasized that the cadre change of K.C. Devaki was created on her own request and was conditional upon her agreeing to seniority junior to the last of the new cadre, a stipulation well documented in the government order. The Court differentiated this case from a transfer in public interest, wherein an employee normally keeps his/her current seniority. The Apex Court also relied upon an identical judgment of Karnataka High Court in M K Jagadeesh v. The Registrar General, High Court of Karnataka, where the condition of junior-most seniority was upheld in a case of a change of cadre on medical grounds with the employee's undertaking to be the junior-most.
In conclusion, the Supreme Court held that the Tribunal and the High Court erred in directing the grant of seniority to K.C. Devaki in the First Division Assistant cadre from her initial date of appointment as Staff Nurse. The Apex Court found that the seniority should rightfully be determined from 19.04.1989, the date she was appointed to the new cadre, in accordance with Rule 16 of the 1977 Recruitment Rules and Rule 6 of the 1957 Seniority Rules, given that the transfer was at her own request and with her explicit consent to take junior-most position. Consequently, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the order of the High Court.
CORAM: JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA & JUSTICE MANOJ MISRA
Between:THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE & ANR. VS K.C. DEVAKI 2025 INSC 389
Date of Judgment: 25-03-2025
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