In Brief
District Judges promoted through Limited Competitive Examination (LCE) in Madhya Pradesh challenged the High Court's 2017 decision to determine their inter se seniority based on their rank in the lower cadre, rather than their merit in the LCE. The Supreme Court held that LCE was designed as a merit-based promotion channel to incentivize junior officers; reducing it to a mere qualifying exam by using lower cadre seniority defeats this purpose. The Court also held that seniority determined before 2017 could not be retrospectively altered. The judgment set aside the Administrative Committee resolution and Full Court approval, and ordered revision of the gradation list in accordance with merit-based seniority principles.
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