📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Raakesh Blokhra
Jobs & Career
Punjab & Haryana HC Rules Current Duty Charge Service Not Countable for Promotion
✍️ Live Law
🗓 09 Sep 2026, 07:42 AM
👁 3
The Punjab and Haryana High Court held that service rendered under a current duty charge cannot be treated as regular service for the purpose of granting promotions to government employees. The ruling clarifies that only substantive, regular service counts toward promotion eligibility.
The court’s decision came while hearing a petition related to the denial of promotion to a government employee who had served on a current duty charge. The bench observed that such charge is temporary in nature and does not confer the status of regular service under the applicable service rules.
It emphasized that for promotion eligibility, only periods of substantive, continuous service are to be considered. Service rendered while holding a current duty charge, which is essentially a stop‑gap arrangement, cannot be equated with regular service.
The ruling is expected to affect numerous employees across Punjab and Haryana who have been serving in acting or charge capacities and were hoping to count that period toward their promotion timelines. Authorities are now required to revise seniority and promotion lists in line with this interpretation.
It emphasized that for promotion eligibility, only periods of substantive, continuous service are to be considered. Service rendered while holding a current duty charge, which is essentially a stop‑gap arrangement, cannot be equated with regular service.
The ruling is expected to affect numerous employees across Punjab and Haryana who have been serving in acting or charge capacities and were hoping to count that period toward their promotion timelines. Authorities are now required to revise seniority and promotion lists in line with this interpretation.