In Brief
Vinod Verma, a Junior Telecom Officer promoted as Sub-Divisional Engineer under the 75% seniority-cum-fitness quota in 2001, challenged the Central Administrative Tribunal's direction to redraw the seniority list on the basis of the date of joining rather than notional promotion date based on ROTA (Rotation of Vacancies) principles. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that the Telecommunications Engineering Service (Group 'B') Recruitment Rules, 1996 do not contain any express provision for ROTA-based seniority determination, unlike the earlier 1981 Rules. The Court affirmed that absent statutory authority, seniority cannot be granted retrospectively, and found the controversy conclusively settled by a three-Judge Bench judgment dated 12.08.2014.
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