(1)The seniority of the members of the service shall be determined in accordance with the following principles, viz. :(a)Direct recruit.-(i) The seniority of the directly recruited member of the service appointed on probation shall count during his probation from the date of his appointment :Provided that if more than one person have been selected for appointment on probation at the same time the inter-se seniority of the persons so selected shall be according to the order of the merit in which they were recommended for appointment by the committee.(ii)The same order of inter-se seniority shall be maintained on the confirmation of such direct recruits if the confirmation is ordered at the end of the normal period of probation. If, however, the period of probation of any direct recruit is extended the Government (the Appointing Authority) shall determine whether he should be assigned the same seniority as would have been assigned to him if he has been confirmed on the expiry of the normal period of probation or whether he should be assigned a lower seniority.(b)Promoted servant.-The promoted servant shall count his seniority from the date of his continuous officiation in the service of class to which he has been promoted :Provided that where two or more promoted servants are confirmed with effect from the same date the Government (Appointing Authority) shall determine their inter-se seniority in the service in which they are confirmed with due regard to the order in which they were included in the merit list, if any, prepared for determining their suitability for promotion and their relative seniority in the lower service from which they have been promoted :Provided further that the inter-se seniority between promoted servants and direct recruit shall be determined on the post on the date of promotion/appointment to the service.(c)Officiating servant. - The inter-se seniority of servants, promoted to officiate in a Mg her service or a higher category or posts, shall, during the period of their officiation, be the same as that in their substantive service or grade irrespective of the dates in which they began to officiate in the service or grade :Provided that,-(i)if they were selected for officiation from a list in which the names of servants considered suitable for trial in or promotion to the service where arranged in order of merit, their inter-se seniority shall be determined in accordance with order of merit of such list;(ii)the seniority of permanent servant appointed to officiate in the service by transfer shall be determined ad-hoc by the order of appointment :Provided that the seniority proposed to be assigned to each servant shall be determined and intimated to him in the order of appointment.(iii)where permanent servant is reduced to a lower service, grade or category of posts, he shall rank in the gradation list of the latter service, grade or category of posts above all the others in that gradation list unless the authority ordering such reduction by a special order indicates a different position in the gradation list for such reduced servant;(iv)where an officiating servant is reverted to his substantive service or post he shall revert to his position in that gradation list relating to his substantive appointment which he held before he was appointed to officiate in the other service or post.
