Chandigarh: The Chandigarh bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal directed the Chandigarh administration to reopen the option for clerks and junior assistants recruited under individual departmental cadres to opt into the common cadre. Pronounced on September 3, the order calls for the preparation of a fresh common seniority list based on overall length of service to address disparities in promotional avenues.
The directive comes on a petition filed by 23 employees working as clerks and junior assistants across various departments, including the Government Medical College and Hospital Sector 32, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking, education department, estate office, and Chandigarh police. The dispute originated following the introduction of common cadre recruitment rules for ministerial posts in 2015, which aimed to facilitate inter-departmental transfers and unify administrative frameworks. Prior to this change, individual departments operated under distinct recruitment and promotion guidelines.
Petitioners recruited between 1993 and 2014 argued that despite extensive service records, they faced potential supersession by employees recruited under the common cadre between 2016 and 2018. The administration had invited options in 2020 for departmental staff to join the common cadre, but subsequently withdrew the process in September 2021 following separate litigation, leading to parallel promotion channels.
The tribunal observed that maintaining two distinct promotion tracks created an imbalance, potentially accelerating promotions for common cadre staff while causing stagnation among senior departmental staff. Holding that employees performing identical duties must have equal promotional opportunities, the bench quashed the September 2021 directives. The administration has been given three months to complete the option exercise and formulate the updated seniority list.
