Clarifies seniority dispute, sets uniform promotion date
Panaji : The High Court of Bombay at Goa, in a matter concerning the finalisation of the Police Department’s seniority list, has clarified that April 1, 2013, will be treated as the deemed date of promotion for a group of Police Inspectors.
The clarification came on a Miscellaneous Civil Application filed by the Director General of Police (DGP) seeking clarification of the High Court’s July 2025 judgment.
The original dispute concerned the seniority of officers recruited in 2002 who had been promoted on an ad hoc basis at different intervals between 2011 and 2014.
The High Court had earlier held that the ad hoc designation was only a temporary arrangement because of pending litigation before the Supreme Court and that the officers were entitled to seniority from the time actual vacancies became available.
The DGP, however, expressed concern that a strict implementation of the earlier judgment would require the department to hold a retrospective Review Police Establishment Board (PEB) meeting to assess eligibility as of September 2012. The department would first have had to consider officers from the 1997 and 1999 batches, along with reserved category vacancies, before determining the placement of the 2002-batch petitioners.
The High Court observed that such an exercise would be “completely unwarranted”, noting that many officers eligible during that period may have already retired or would not be in a position to undergo a fresh PEB decades later.
Accepting the suggestion to assign a uniform seniority date of April 1, 2013, the High Court observed that while officers from the 1997 and 1999 batches were entitled to promotion first, having been promoted on a regular basis in October 2012, the petitioners could be accommodated against the remaining vacancies available by early 2013.
