Right to be considered for promotion a fundamental right: SC

The Supreme Court has said that the right to promotion can not be treated as a fundamental right, but consideration for promotion has now been evolved as a fundamental right.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and B V Nagarathna pointed out that the top court had, time and again, laid emphasis on the right to be considered for promotion as a fundamental right.

The Constitution bench had earlier said in the Ajit Singh case that if a person who satisfies the eligibility and the criteria for promotion is still not considered for the same, then there will be a clear violation of his or her fundamental right.

The top court emphasised on the principle while setting aside an Allahabad High Court judgement of December 4, 2019, while rejecting a writ petition by a group of junior engineers having been denied promotion by the state government's minor irrigation department.

The court said the seniority list in question must go. It said if the seniority list is allowed to be sustained, then the engineers who are more meritorious in the mechanical and civil streams than the junior engineers of the agricultural stream would be deprived of their right of being considered for promotion. In fact, their right would accrue only after all the junior engineers of the agricultural stream selected in the same selection are granted promotion, the court added.

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