Ad hoc service and seniority: temporary appointment outside recruitment rules cannot count before regularisation.

Ad hoc temporary service as Assistant Engineer could not be counted for seniority from the date of initial appointment where recruitment rules required appointment through prescribed regular procedure and the initial engagement was only stop-gap, fixed-term and subject to reversion. The principle of continuous officiation applies only when the initial appointment is made in accordance with rules, or where any defect is merely procedural and the appointment is otherwise regular. Because the respondents were later absorbed only from the date of regularisation, their seniority could be reckoned only from that date, not from the earlier ad hoc service.

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Issues: Whether ad hoc temporary service rendered by the respondents as Assistant Engineers prior to regularisation could be counted for seniority from the date of initial appointment.

Analysis: The governing recruitment rules required appointments to the cadre of Assistant Engineer to be made by prescribed procedures through the Public Service Commission or, in emergency, by advertisement and interview through the Public Service Commission. The respondents were appointed only on an ad hoc, fixed-term, stop-gap basis with an express condition of reversion if not selected regularly, and their later absorption was made only from the date of regularisation. The principle that continuous officiation can count for seniority applies only where the initial appointment is made in accordance with rules or where the irregularity is merely procedural and the appointment is otherwise regular. It does not extend to appointments that are purely ad hoc and not according to rules.

Conclusion: The respondents were not entitled to count their ad hoc service prior to regularisation for seniority, and their seniority could be reckoned only from the date of regularisation.

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