No DPC, No Retrospective Promotion: Uttarakhand HC Dismisses AIIMS Rishikesh Nursing Officers' Claim for Seniority from 2021
Uttarakhand High Court holds that without a Departmental Promotion Committee assessment in 2021, AIIMS Rishikesh nursing officers cannot claim Senior Nursing Officer promotion from that year.
The Uttarakhand High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by Nursing Officers at AIIMS, Rishikesh who sought promotion as Senior Nursing Officers with effect from 2021, arguing that three years of service had been completed by then. Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari, sitting singly, found that since the Departmental Promotion Committee for the petitioners was itself constituted only in 2022 — and the promotions followed on the DPC's recommendation — there was no legal basis to grant promotion from any earlier date. The court also found that the Office Memorandum dated 08.09.1998 relied upon by the petitioners did not support a claim for promotion from a deemed or time-bound date.
Appointments, Promotion, and the Representation That Was Rejected
The petitioners were appointed as Nursing Officers at AIIMS, Rishikesh during 2017–18. They were subsequently promoted as Senior Nursing Officers by an order dated 17.08.2022. After the promotion, they made a representation to the administration claiming that they had completed three years of service by 2021 and were therefore entitled to the benefit of promotion from that earlier year.
The Administrative Officer, AIIMS, Rishikesh rejected the representation by order dated 07.07.2023. The rejection order recorded the findings of a committee that had evaluated the representations of several Senior Nursing Officers. The committee found, first, that there was no provision or guideline issued by DoPT or the Government of India permitting retrospective promotion where a DPC could not be held, and that even notional benefits could not be granted in the absence of such a provision. Second, the committee noted that the promotions of these officers were not governed by the Assured Progression Scheme or the Modified Assured Progression Scheme, under which benefits are given from the date of accrual. Third, the committee found that the judgments cited along with the representations were not applicable to the facts of the case.
The petitioners challenged the order dated 07.07.2023 before the High Court in Writ Petition (SS) No. 1471 of 2023.
The Office Memorandum of 1998 and What It Actually Says
Before the court, the petitioners placed reliance on an Office Memorandum dated 08.09.1998, which was on record as Annexure-4 to the writ petition. Their argument was that this memorandum entitled them to promotion as Senior Nursing Officers with effect from 2021.
Justice Tiwari examined the memorandum carefully. The court found that the memorandum provides that DPCs should be convened at regular intervals, with a time schedule laid down, so that panels can be drawn up and used for making promotions against vacancies arising during the course of a year. However, the court found that the memorandum does not anywhere provide that an employee would be entitled to promotion from a deemed date or in a time-bound manner.
A further reading of the memorandum, the court held, confirmed that promotions under it are vacancy-based and depend on the recommendation of the Departmental Promotion Committee. In the absence of an assessment by the DPC, no promotion can be made.
Petitioners' Own Concession Proved Fatal to the Claim
The court's reasoning turned decisively on a concession made by the petitioners' own counsel. Learned counsel for the petitioners conceded before the court that the DPC for considering the claim of the petitioners was constituted in the year 2022, and that the promotions followed on the recommendation of that DPC.
Justice Tiwari held that since the DPC itself was constituted in 2022, the claim for promotion with effect from 2021 could not be sustained. The rejection order passed by the Administrative Officer, AIIMS, Rishikesh could not be faulted. The relief claimed in the writ petition could not be granted.
The court did not find it necessary to go into the question of whether the judgments cited by the petitioners before the committee were applicable, given that the foundational requirement — a DPC assessment in 2021 — was admittedly absent.
Direction to AIIMS on Timely Constitution of DPCs
While dismissing the petition, Justice Tiwari added an observation directed at the administration. The court expressed that it “hopes and expect that the instructions issued, vide Office Memorandum dated 08.09.1998, shall be borne in mind” by the competent authority at AIIMS, and that DPCs shall be constituted in a time-bound manner as and when vacancies arise on a particular post.
This observation, though not a formal direction, signals that the court found the delay in constituting the DPC to be a concern, even if it did not translate into a legal entitlement for the petitioners to claim backdated promotion.
Outcome
The writ petition was dismissed on 26 May 2026. The order dated 07.07.2023 passed by the Administrative Officer, AIIMS, Rishikesh, rejecting the petitioners' representation for promotion as Senior Nursing Officers with effect from 2021, was upheld. Ms. Prabha Naithani appeared for the petitioners. Mr. Lalit Sharma, Deputy Solicitor General, appeared for the Union of India and the respondents.