Antedated promotion

Where the meeting of DPC scheduled to be held is postponed or adjourned without announcing any future date or not convened within reasonable period to the prejudice of an officer/employee, the competent authority in order to foster justice may grant antedated promotion to the higher post bearing in mind the eligibility and fitness in the DPC so that such officer/employee may not be subjected to a lower position in his/her seniority list or become victim of unwarranted delay in holding DPC by the competent authority.

Where the meeting of DPC scheduled to be held is postponed or adjourned without announcing any future date or not convened within reasonable period to the prejudice of an officer/employee, the competent authority in order to foster justice may grant antedated promotion to the higher post bearing in mind the eligibility and fitness in the DPC so that such officer/employee may not be subjected to a lower position in his/her seniority list or become victim of unwarranted delay in holding DPC by the competent authority.

No general principles had been laid down by High Court or Supreme Court that employees of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) were entitled to antedated promotion on the sole basis that they had completed service of five years in their respective grades

Petitioners were seeking the exercise of High Court's extraordinary constitutional jurisdiction to undertake judicial review of promotion/lack of promotion decisions of OGDCL

Promotion criteria specified in the Oil and Gas Development Corporation Employees (Service) Regulations, 1994, reflected that a key component of the promotion decision was objective evaluation of the employee's performance and competence

High Court was not to step into the shoes of the Human Resources department and management of the company and second-guess their decision regarding competence and performance of employees made on the basis of subjective appraisal, merely because the organization was publicly owned company performing duties in relation to the affairs of the State

High Court had no expertise to take employment decisions

Petitioners had failed to make out a case for any procedural impropriety or breach of applicable rules or discrimination or malice

Constitutional petitions were dismissed with costs.

Civil servant who was consciously superseded after considering his service record by the departmental promotion committee could not regain his original seniority or subsequent promotions so long as the order of the Promotion Committee superseding him stood in the field and supersession of the civil servant in such a case was neither advertent nor same fell in the category of deferment, so as to entitle the civil servant, on subsequent promotion, to regain his original seniority.

Civil servant who was consciously superseded after considering his service record by the departmental promotion committee could not regain his original seniority or subsequent promotions so long as the order of the Promotion Committee superseding him stood in the field and supersession of the civil servant in such a case was neither advertent nor same fell in the category of deferment, so as to entitle the civil servant, on subsequent promotion, to regain his original seniority.

Civil servant has a fundamental right to be promoted even after his retirement through awarding pro-forma promotion provided his right of promotion accrued during his service and his case for promotion could not be considered for promotion for no fault of his own and he is retired on attaining the age of superannuation without any shortcoming on his part pertaining to deficiency in length of service or in the form of inquiry and departmental action so taken against his right of promotion.

Only exception to grant antedated promotion by the competent authority to a superannuated or deceased civil servant, was provided under R. 7-A of the Sindh Civil Servant (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1974 (with effect from 18-3-2006)

Where a civil servant who was in fact recommended for promotion to next high post by the Provincial Selection Board or the Departmental Promotion Committee as the case may be but before issuance of his notification for promotion, such civil servant either passed away or retired, in such eventuality pre-condition to assume charge as mandated under R. 31 of Civil Service Rules (1950), Vol. 1 was done away under R. 7-A (2) of the Sindh Civil Servant (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1974 (with effect from 18-3-2006).

Civil servant (petitioner) was inducted in BS-17 and was subsequently given various assignments in BS-18 on current charge basis

Grievance of civil servant was that he should have been considered for promotion with effect from the date when the post in BS-18 fell vacant

Service Tribunal dismissed appeal filed by civil servant

Validity

Civil servant was inducted into service in BS-17

Subsequently he was promoted to BS-18 on current-charge basis, however by that time he was eligible and qualified to be promoted to BS-18 and even vacancies were available

Petition for leave to appeal to Supreme Court was converted into appeal and allowed, and competent authority was directed to consider civil servant for promotion to BS-18 with effect from the date when the vacancy occurred, provided he was qualified to be considered for the same.