Quota-based seniority and res judicata barred reopening of excess promotions; absorbed employees could not outrank earlier promoted inspectors.

A quota-based seniority dispute under the Maharashtra Sales Tax Inspectors Recruitment Rules, 1971 was held to remain governed by an earlier binding adjudication: the quota rule had not broken down, promotions in excess of quota were fortuitous, and the pushing down principle applied. The later challenge was therefore barred by res judicata and constructive res judicata, and a temporary certificate did not amount to regularisation of excess promotions. Absorbed Revenue Department employees could not rank above earlier promoted Sales Tax Inspectors because the absorption arrangement fixed seniority only in equated posts and did not confer higher cadre seniority. The revised seniority list was quashed as inconsistent with the service rules and Articles 14 and 16.

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Issues: (i) Whether the challenge to the seniority list of Sales Tax Inspectors was barred by res judicata or constructive res judicata and whether promotions made in excess of quota were fortuitous so as to require application of the pushing down principle; (ii) Whether absorbed employees from the Revenue Department could rank senior to earlier promoted Sales Tax Inspectors in the cadre of Sales Tax Inspectors.

Issue (i): Whether the challenge to the seniority list of Sales Tax Inspectors was barred by res judicata or constructive res judicata and whether promotions made in excess of quota were fortuitous so as to require application of the pushing down principle.

Analysis: The earlier adjudication between the parties had already examined the validity of the quota arrangement under Rule 2 of the Maharashtra Sales Tax Inspectors Recruitment Rules, 1971 and the effect of promotions made beyond the prescribed quota. That decision had held that the quota rule had not broken down, that inter se seniority was governed by the quota rule, and that promotions in excess of quota were to be treated as fortuitous, attracting the pushing down principle. The later challenge sought to reopen the same issues, and the additional certificate relied upon by the promotees did not alter the legal position because it still described the excess promotions as temporary and did not show any conscious regularisation decision by the Government.

Conclusion: The challenge was barred by res judicata and constructive res judicata, and the promotions made in excess of quota remained fortuitous with seniority to be determined by the pushing down principle.

Issue (ii): Whether absorbed employees from the Revenue Department could rank senior to earlier promoted Sales Tax Inspectors in the cadre of Sales Tax Inspectors.

Analysis: The absorbed employees' seniority was fixed in their equated posts in the Sales Tax Department, but the Government resolution governing absorption did not confer any higher seniority in the cadre of Sales Tax Inspectors. The earlier promoted Sales Tax Inspectors had been selected and promoted before the absorbed employees entered the higher cadre. The provisional seniority list therefore ignored the date of selection and promotion to the Sales Tax Inspector cadre and placed later entrants above earlier promotees, which was inconsistent with the governing service rules and offended Articles 14 and 16.

Conclusion: The absorbed employees could not be placed above the Sales Tax Inspectors who had been promoted earlier, and the revised seniority list was rightly quashed.

Final Conclusion: Both appeals failed. The seniority dispute relating to the 31 December 1987 block was governed by the quota-based rules and the earlier binding adjudication, while the absorbed employees could not displace earlier promoted inspectors in the higher cadre.

Ratio Decidendi: Where seniority is governed by a quota-based recruitment scheme and the issue has already been conclusively decided between the same parties, later attempts to reopen the same question are barred by res judicata and constructive res judicata; service seniority cannot be altered by absorption in an equated lower cadre unless the governing rules expressly so provide.

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