upsc race 27 April 2020

doubt

what is consequential Seniority?

Quick Summary

Consequential seniority refers to a situation where a junior employee from an SC/ST category is promoted using reservation, and consequently gains seniority over a senior employee from a general category who is promoted later. This concept was introduced by the 85th Amendment to the Constitution, amending Article 16(4) to address the implications of the 1999 Arjit Singh case, which had previously established a 'catch-up rule'.

2 Replies

Karishma Yadav 27 April 2020

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

Consequential seniority is when a junior employee from SC/ST category, gets promoted using reservation in promotion and the senior employee from general category gets promoted later, the former would get the seniority as a consequence of promotion.

This is opposite of catch-up rule, where a general employee will regain seniority over an earlier promoted SC/ST employee to the next higher cadre, had the general employee been senior in the lower cadre. This was laid in 1999 in Arjit Singh Case.

The consequential seniority was brought in by the 85th Amendment to intervene the 1999 judgment. An amendment was made in Article 16(4), which substituted the words ‘in matters of promotion to any class’ with the words ‘in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class.’

Hope this answers your question.

Regards, Karishma Yadav