What happens if a government employee retires before they can start discharging duties in a promotional position? They can neither be granted retrospective promotion nor claim the financial benefits that come with such a promotion.
This was clarified by the Supreme Court of India’s bench comprising Justice Pamidighantam Sri Sri Narasimha and Justice Sandeep Mehta in Government of West Bengal & Ors. vs Amal Satpathi & Ors.
Amal Satpathi, who was then principal scientific officer working for the Government of West Bengal, was to be promoted to chief scientific officer as per the recommendation of the Public Service Commission (PSC) dated 29 December, 2016. However, by the time he got officially promoted on paper, he had retired. His promotion got processed only after he retired on 31 December, 2016 owing to delays on the part of the administration.
This caused Satpathi to appeal to the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal. As a result, he was allowed notional financial benefits from the date of his retirement, with the Calcutta High Court upholding the same. The argument was that the processing of the recommended promotion was delayed by no fault of Satpathi.
Then, the State of West Bengal appealed against this grant saying Satpathi’s promotion came post his retirement so he wasn’t eligible for the notional benefits.
The State Government argued that as per service jurisprudence, retrospective promotion is not recognised unless there is a specific provision to enable the same under exceptional situations.
Justice Mehta observed that granting Satpathi even notional benefit is not justified as he had not assumed charge in the post that he was recommended to be promoted to, that is, chief scientific officer (CSO). He retired as principal scientific officer and not as CSO.
According to Rule 54(1)(a) of the West Bengal Service Rules, an employee has to discharge duties of a higher post in order to be granted the corresponding pay. Therefore, they cannot be granted posthumous or retrospective promotions without any “enabling provision”.
