High Court orders correction of Assistant Headmasters’ seniority list in Nagaland

DIMAPUR — In a relief for 26 teachers, the Kohima Bench of Gauhati High Court has directed Nagaland government to revise the final seniority list of Assistant Headmasters (AHMs) in accordance with the Nagaland School Education Service Rules, 2017.

The judgement, delivered on July 22, comes in response to a writ petition (WP(C)/32/2025) filed by 26 AHMs under the Department of School Education challenging the seniority list published on January 14, 2025.

The petitioners alleged that the seniority list wrongly placed them below their junior counterparts, despite being regularised earlier.

According to their counsel, the regularisation order dated June 7, 2024, had clearly established their seniority based on the recommendation of a Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) convened on May 15, 2024.

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However, the state government defended the list, arguing that the DPC's role was limited to regularising officiating promotions, not determining seniority.

They maintained that the seniority of AHMs should follow the undisputed graduate teacher seniority list issued in November 2022, as per a previous High Court judgement.

Justice Yarenjungla Longkumer, who delivered the judgement, noted discrepancies in the DPC’s handling of the promotion process. “The DPC minutes did not provide any justification for superseding senior officers,” she observed.

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The court pointed out that as per Rule 25 of the 2017 Rules, seniority among promotees must be determined by a select list and reasons must be recorded when a junior is promoted ahead of a senior.

The court found that the impugned notification violated the rules by relying on the date of joining rather than the approved seniority list. “Officiating promotion does not confer any right to seniority unless explicitly stated and supported by rules,” the order stated.

Accordingly, the High Court quashed the seniority list published on January 14, 2025, and directed the state government to issue a revised list that complies with the 2017 Rules and reflects the correct order of seniority.

“The state respondents are directed to convene a fresh DPC strictly in terms of the Rules to fix the date of regularisation of officiating promotion of the petitioners and private respondents in the grade of Assistant Headmasters, Junior Grade II, and thereafter issue necessary orders within a period of 3 (three) months from the date of this order,” the judgement read.