Promotion Can't Be Denied for Reasons Outside Candidate's Control; Delhi High Court Grants Army Officer Promotion

In the case of Jeewraj Singh Shekhawat vs. UOI & Ors, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, consisting of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, granted an officer of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) a retrospective promotion that had previously been denied. The officer was posted abroad, making him ineligible for promotion because he did not meet the "10 years Group 'A' service" requirement under the CRPF Group 'A' Officers Recruitment Rules, 2010. The court ruled that the officer's situation was beyond his control and granted him the benefits of the promotion.

The officer, who was a Sub-Inspector, had been promoted to Inspector/GD on March 31, 1999, and sent abroad on deputation starting June 21, 2001. When he became eligible for the Senior Inspector Cadre promotion in 2004, the Ministry of External Affairs did not allow his return to the CRPF because of his deputation. He was finally relieved from his foreign posting on May 1, 2007, and rejoined the CRPF on July 11, 2007.

In 2007, orders were issued to protect his seniority and promotion chances, and he was promoted to Assistant Commandant on October 23, 2009, after completing the required course. However, he was not given the benefit of a notional promotion, which led him to file a complaint. In 2011, an order reassigned his seniority, placing him above Ajay Kumar in the ranking list. Ajay Kumar had been promoted to Deputy Commandant in 2011, while the petitioner was promoted in 2012, prompting him to file another complaint about his seniority.

In response, in 2013, the petitioner was placed above Ajay Kumar in the Deputy Commandant rank. The court, referring to other cases, directed the authorities to grant him retrospective seniority for the 2-I/C post from the same date as Ajay Kumar and place him above Kumar in the seniority list.

The petition was allowed.