A two-judge bench of the High Court of Bombay, AURANGABAD on 04.02.2019 in NITIN RAGHUNATH AMKAR Vs THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS (WRIT PETITION NO. 1289 OF 2014) disposed of the writ petition. The bench was headed by:- JUSTICE T.V. NALAWADE & JUSTICE SUNIL K. KOTWAL

FACTS:

Initially the petitioner was working with R4: School

Seniority list for 2010-11 was published by R4 with many teachers who were junior to him were shown senior to him. He made representation before Education Officer who rejected it which resulted in filing the suit.

It was secondary school due to which the posts of teachers were available as per the subjects.

ISSUES:

• Validity of the seniority list with regard to the teaching staff.
• Factors responsible while determining the seniority of an employee.

CONTENTIONS:

By petitioners:

• He ought to have been given B.Ed. scale as he had completed B.Ed.
• The workload of B.Ed. scale was given to him and he was teaching classes of 8th standard and above.
• Seniority list for 2010-11 was published by R4 where many teachers who were junior to him were shown senior to him.
• Such list should be struck down.

By respondents:

• In the seniority list which was prepared in the past, these teachers were shown senior to the petitioner on the basis of their date of appointment and continuous officiation in service.
• The posts were required to be filled on the basis of subject.
• He was expected to give undertaking that he would not claim scale of trained graduate teacher in future and admittedly which was even given by him.
• His claim should not be considered.

OBSERVATIONS:

The court observed that:-

• The posts were available as per the subjects.
• The petitioner never raised grievance in respect of appointments given to other teachers on B.Ed. scale even when those appointments were made when he was available as a candidate who had completed B.Ed.
• Alleged seniors were rightly shown as seniors to the petitioner based on the dates of appointments and their qualifications.
• Qualification for the post is material when person gets the post.
• In the same category for determining the seniority the date of joining will be relevant.
• Petitioner came in the scale of B.Ed. on 1.6.2007 and so, on that basis his name needs to be placed in seniority list and that is done by the employer.

Hon’ble High Court Held:

The court dismissed the petition on the basis of their observations.