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16. Similarly, applicants cannot also take any assistance from the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Pawan Pratap Singh and others v. Reevan Singh and others, (2011) 3 SCC 267. As can be seen from para-4 of the judgment, Rule 22 of Appointment, Probation, Confirmation and Seniority Rules, 1980 provides as to how the seniority has to be regulated. The said rule stipulates that seniority in any category of post in the service shall be determined from the date of substantive appointment. It was in this context the judgment was rendered by the Apex Court that the effective date of selection has to be understood in the context of service rules under which appointment is made. It may mean the date on which the process of selection starts with the issuance of the advertisement or the factum of preparation of the select list, as the case may be. The Apex Court has also held that ordinarily, notional seniority may not be granted from the backdate and if it is done, it must be based on objective considerations and on a valid classification and must be traceable to the statutory rules. Even the Apex Court in the case of Pawan Pratap Singh (supra) has held that notional seniority can also be granted from the backdate if there are some valid reasons. As already stated above, according to us, there are valid reasons for granting the promotion and seniority to the applicants from backdate, as already noticed above.