‘Promotion is fundamental right’: Punjab and Haryana High Court orders quarterly DPC meetings to end employee stagnation

Justice Harpreet Singh noted that it is settled law that DPCs must be held regularly and timely to ensure promotions.

The order added that in convening the DPC not only causes financial loss to the concerned officers on account of delayed promotion to the next higher grade, but also adversely impacts their future career progression, as it correspondingly postpones their eligibility for further advancement.

Dispute over consideration for promotion

• The petitioner, Kulwant Singh, a junior engineer at the municipal corporation, Amritsar, approached the court seeking direction to his employes to promote him to the post of Assistant Corporation Engineer (O&M) (Civil).
• He claimed that he is fully eligible as per the Punjab Municipal Corporation Services (Recruitment and conditions of service) (Amendment) Rules, 2020.
• Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Abhishek Singla contended that the petitioner was appointed as Tubewell Driver in the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board in the year 1995.
• He submitted that case of the petitioner was not considered in the DPC held on January 28, 2025, irrespective of the fact that a number of posts of Assistant Corporation Engineer (O&M) (Civil) are lying vacant.

‘DCP meeting must held every three months’

• The corporation has misinterpreted the 2020 Amendment Rules and were wrong in stating that the petitioner is not eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Corporation Engineer (O&M) (Civil).
• It is settled law that DPCs must be held regularly and timely to ensure promotions and career progression of eligible employees and to avoid stagnation.
• Instructions dated May 8, 2017 issued by the Government of Punjab, Department of Personnel, expressly state that DPCs have to be held every three months so that eligible employees get their promotions in time.
• The respondents are mandated to hold DPCs every three months (quarterly) during every calendar year so that employees can get promotions against vacant posts in time.
• The Governor of Punjab, in exercise of powers under Section 71(2) of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, has framed the 2020 Amendment Rules to further amend the Punjab Municipal Corporation Services (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1978.
• Under Section 71(2), the government may make rules for regulating the recruitment and the conditions of service of members of the Corporation Services referred to various corporation Services, and the classification of such services and for the duties and functions of the members of such services.
• The provision prescribed the requirement of a diploma in civil engineering along with seven years experience, the Proviso expressly states that employees who are already members of the service of Junior Engineer (O&M) (Civil) shall be entitled for promotion notwithstanding the absence of such educational qualifications.
• The petitioner squarely falls within the ambit of the provison, since he was already working as a Junior Engineer (O&M) (Civil) at the time the 2020 Amendment Rules came into force.

• Consequently, even if the petitioner’s diploma obtained through parttime/distance mode is neither valid nor recognized, the same is not a prerequisite for his consideration for promotion to the post of Assistant Corporation Engineer (O&M) (Civil).
• The petitioner completed seven years of service as a Junior Engineer on 02.01.2024 and was, therefore, fully eligible for promotion in terms of the 2020 Amendment Rules.

Other court rulings on right to promotion

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently clarified that a promotion “wipes all the past records”, and cannot be considered for awarding a major penalty of dismissal from service, while remanding the dismissal of a head constable back to the disciplinary authority for reconsideration of an appropriate punishment.

In March, underlining that “promotion is not an inherent right of an incumbent”, the Kerala High Court dismissed a man’s plea seeking retrospective review of his denied promotion on a minor disciplinary action over a decade ago, observing that such a grant would amount to a reward despite his proven misconduct.

Justice P M Manoj was hearing a man’s plea challenging the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for a denied promotion in 2012, stating that he was apprehended with frivolous charges of a minor nature, unfairly denying him promotion.

In December 2025, while rejecting a Patiala-based woman’s plea for promotion to senior town planner, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that while an employee has a fundamental right to be considered for promotion, they do not possess a vested right.

Justice Namit Kumar was dealing with a woman’s plea seeking directions for her promotion as senior town planner in the department of town and country planning, Punjab.

“As per settled law, promotion is neither a vested nor fundamental right. Only consideration for promotion is a fundamental right. There is nothing wrong in the action of the respondents in not promoting her to the post of Senior Town Planner,” the court held.