SRINAGAR: The Srinagar Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal has delivered a significant ruling affecting Class-IV employees of the Jammu and Kashmir Sheep Husbandry Department, quashing district-wise seniority lists and related promotion processes for violating statutory service orders mandating cadre uniformity.
In its order dated December 23, 2025, a Bench comprising Justice Ritu Tagore (Judicial Member) and Prasant Kumar (Administrative Member) allowed Original Application No. 570 of 2025, filed by nine Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) employees from Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Jammu, and Kathua districts. The applicants had challenged the department’s rejection of their objections to seniority lists, arguing that the lists unlawfully retained obsolete Class-IV designations despite explicit restructuring under government orders.
The Tribunal held that the Sheep Husbandry Department had failed to implement S.O. 133 of 2022 and S.O. 151 of 2022, both issued by the General Administration Department, which abolished the earlier Class-IV nomenclature and mandated a uniform designation of “Multi-Tasking Staff” with common avenues of career progression. Despite these statutory orders, the department continued to prepare seniority lists reflecting designations such as Assistant Stockman, Chowkidar, and Fieldman, resulting in discrimination among similarly placed employees.
The applicants also assailed Circulars dated 15 March 2025 and 12 April 2025, through which district offices were directed to prepare agendas for Departmental Promotion Committees on the basis of the impugned seniority lists. They argued that promotions founded on an unlawful seniority framework would irreversibly prejudice their service prospects.
Rejecting the department’s defence that the matter was premature or that alternative remedies had not been exhausted, the Tribunal observed that earlier directions issued in connected cases had not been meaningfully complied with. The Bench noted that the rejection order dated 15 May 2025 was “cryptic and non-speaking” and failed to address the applicants’ objections in the context of the binding statutory framework.
The Tribunal placed particular emphasis on parity, pointing out that the Jammu Bench of the CAT had already granted identical relief in similar matters involving Multi-Tasking Staff. Denial of the same relief to the present applicants, the Bench held, would amount to hostile discrimination.
Accordingly, the Tribunal quashed the rejection order, the final seniority lists issued for Bandipora, Budgam, and Baramulla districts in May 2025, and the underlying tentative seniority list circulated in March 2025. It also set aside the circular directing preparation for District Level Departmental Promotion Committees, holding that promotions could not proceed based on an invalid seniority structure.
The respondents have been directed to prepare and notify a fresh, lawful final seniority list strictly in accordance with S.O. 133 of 2022 within eight weeks, after identifying only those limited posts that may legitimately fall under technical exceptions. The department has also been instructed to convene DPCs expeditiously thereafter and to pass a fresh, reasoned consideration order addressing the applicants’ objections.
In a broader directive with implications beyond the immediate dispute, the Tribunal has ordered the government to amend recruitment rules in compliance with S.O. 151 of 2022 to ensure uniform career progression for all Class-IV employees across departments.
The ruling is expected to have a ripple effect across departments in Jammu and Kashmir, where Class-IV cadre restructuring has been inconsistently implemented, reinforcing the binding nature of statutory service orders and the principle of equal treatment within reorganised cadres.
