New Delhi: The Central Administrative
Tribunal (CAT) has said that public employees cannot claim
seniority as a "fundamental right".
"As per the settled law, seniority is not a fundamental
right of a public employee. It is only a civil right. There
cannot be any change in this contrary to the principles of
natural justice," the Tribunal bench, comprising Members
Shanker Raju and Veena Chhotray, said.
The Tribunal said this while refusing to set aside an
order by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) revising the
seniority list of its junior stenographers,
It dismissed the petition of junior stenographers
seeking to quash the order of the civic agency which had
revised their 1988 seniority list.
The Tribunal noted that seniority list of junior
stenographers was revised in 2000 by the MCD after duly
considering the objections invited by it after circulating a
provisional seniority list.
"The revision of seniority list of 2000 had been
preceded by circulation of a provisional seniority list and
inviting the objections. Even though the applicants still
insist that their objections had not been considered, this is
not proved," it said.
The Tribunal rejected the plea of violation of natural
justice of petitioners on the ground that no proof in the form
of relevant document was produced in support of it.
The petitioners, M S Thakur and others, were aggrieved
at the changes in the revised seniority list of 2000 and
approached the Tribunal for relief.
PTI
