Seniority benefit for demobilized officers cannot extend beyond the temporary rules and expired recruitment scheme.

Seniority for demobilized officers depended on the temporary 1968, 1973 and 1980 service rules, which were designed to benefit officers who had served during the Emergency period and whose appointments fell within those schemes. The 1980 Rules did not revive the earlier regime; they applied only to pending appointments against vacancies covered by the 1973 Rules and could not extend to a person who became a commissioned officer only after the 1973 Rules had expired. Because seniority arises only from a valid rule and must be strictly construed, the respondent, who joined commissioned service after the Emergency and later entered State service, had no accrued or vested right to the claimed benefit.

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Issues: Whether the respondent, who joined commissioned service in the Army after the Emergency had ended and entered State service later, was entitled to seniority benefit under the 1973 and 1980 demobilized officers' rules.

Analysis: The service rules framed in 1968 and 1973 were intended to grant reservation and seniority benefits to demobilized officers who had served during the Emergency period. The 1980 Rules did not continue the 1973 regime; they created a separate and limited scheme for regularizing appointments of demobilized officers whose recruitment process had commenced or concluded under the 1973 Rules but whose appointments were still pending. The benefit under Rule 5 of the 1980 Rules was confined to persons appointed against vacancies referred to in the 1973 Rules and could not be extended to a person who became a commissioned officer only after the 1973 Rules had expired. Seniority, though a civil right, can arise only from a valid rule and any provision affecting it must be strictly construed. The respondent, having joined commissioned service after the Emergency and having entered State service in 1988, could not claim any accrued or vested right under the earlier temporary rules.

Conclusion: The respondent was not entitled to seniority benefit under the 1973 Rules or the 1980 Rules.

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