In Brief
A Bihar State Electricity Board employee sought retroactive promotion to the rank of Joint Secretary from the date a vacancy arose in 1997, rather than his actual promotion date in 2003. He claimed that having completed the prescribed qualification period (Kal Awadhi) by 1997, he was entitled to promotion from that date. The High Court's division bench agreed, awarding him retrospective benefits. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that completing the minimum qualifying service only makes an employee eligible for consideration—it does not create a vested right to promotion. Promotion dates are determined by actual appointment following due process, not by the occurrence of a vacancy. Retrospective seniority cannot be granted from dates when the employee was not in the higher cadre.
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