In Brief
Forest officers (ACFs) appointed in 1988 by lobbying, after an exhausted 1985 merit list, challenged their placement at the bottom of the 2010 seniority list. The Supreme Court held that their illegal appointments beyond advertised vacancies could not constitute substantive appointments under Rule 35 of the Bihar Forest Service Rules, 1953. Seniority must be reckoned from the date of regularisation (03.10.2005), not from the initial illegal appointment (13.04.1988). Appointments made contrary to statutory rules through backdoor methods are fortuitous and cannot confer seniority benefits. The Court affirmed the High Court's judgment dismissing the appellants' writ petitions.
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