In Brief
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal of C. Jayachandran, a direct recruit to the Kerala judicial service, against a High Court order denying him notional seniority. Jayachandran was wrongly excluded from the initial selection process due to illegal moderation of marks granted to other candidates. When the selection was re-cast, he was included with rank 3 but appointed over a year later than the original selectees. The Court held that Jayachandran was entitled to notional seniority from the date the other candidates from the same selection process were appointed, as he was part of the revised merit list. The delay in pursuing his claim and the High Court's delayed decision did not defeat his substantive right to seniority based on his merit ranking in the selection process.
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