By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 3: The High Court of Meghalaya on Wednesday dismissed an appeal of Upper Division Assistants (UDAs) in the state government service seeking promotion with retrospective effect from the time of eligibility for promotion.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice IP Mukerji and Justice W Diengdoh directed the respondents to pay Rs 2 lakh to each appellant as a cost of the legal proceedings incurred by them to pursue their cause of action.
“The Appellants are Upper Division Assistants (UDA) in the State government service. They have raised an interesting point in this appeal. They were Lower Division Assistants (LDA-cum-Typist) in the service. Under the relevant rules governing their service, they became eligible for promotion on completing five years of continuous service. This was accomplished in 2014. Although an adequate number of vacancies existed in the promotional post of Upper Division Assistants, they were not promoted. They were eventually promoted by the office order No. 4 of 2019 dated 3rd March, 2020,” the court said in the order.
Aggrieved, the court added, they filed the instant writ petition seeking promotion with retrospective effect from the time of eligibility for promotion which is 2014. On 30th January, 2023, the writ petition was dismissed by a single judge of this court and later, on 18th May of the same year, the review petition was dismissed. This made them file the appeal in the court.
The court said under the relevant rules and the decisions of the Supreme Court, the appellants are not entitled to promotion with retrospective effect.
It said in the special facts and circumstances of the case, the appellants are entitled to the cost of the legal proceedings incurred by them to pursue their cause of action which certainly arose in 2014.
“This cost is assessed by us at Rs 2 lakh for each appellant to be paid by the respondents within eight weeks of communication of this order,” the court ordered.
