Deputation service under Rule 50(b) is treated as parent-department service for increments and comparable restoration in service position.

Rule 50(b) of the Bombay Civil Services Rules is explained as treating deputation service as countable service for increments in the lien post and as supporting restoration of the employee to the position he would have occupied in the parent department had deputation not occurred. The accompanying circular is described as reflecting that approach. The note rejects a narrow reading that would confine the benefit only to increments in the original post. It also states that deputation does not create an automatic right to promotion, but where promotion in the parent department depends on seniority-cum-merit, satisfactory deputation service and promotions earned there may be considered consistently with the rule.

---

---

Issues: Whether Rule 50(b) of the Bombay Civil Services Rules entitled a government servant, on reversion from deputation to his parent department, to have his deputation service treated so as to restore the position he would have occupied in the parent department, including consequential increments and promotion based on seniority-cum-merit.

Analysis: Rule 50(b) was read as treating service on deputation in another department as countable service for increments in the time scale applicable to the lien post, and the accompanying circular was treated as correctly reflecting that rule by directing restoration of the employee to the position he would have occupied had he not been deputed. The contention that the rule confined benefits only to increments in the original post was rejected. The Court also held that the rule did not create an automatic right to promotion in every case, but where promotion in the parent department was governed by seniority-cum-merit, satisfactory service and promotions earned in the deputation post could be taken into account through the equivalent treatment mandated by the rule. The so-called next below rule was treated as consistent with this approach.

Conclusion: Rule 50(b) was held to require restoration of the employee to the position he would have occupied in the parent department but for deputation, and the respondent was entitled to the relief sought; the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Service rendered on deputation is to be treated, for the purposes of Rule 50(b), as service in the parent department so as to restore the officer to the position he would have occupied there, subject to the nature of the promotional rule applicable.

---