he Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench has effectively removed obstacles for the promotion of the 2016 batch naib tehsildars to tehsildar positions, lifting a previous stay that had delayed the process for over a year.
Justice Alok Mathur delivered the verdict in favor of petitioners Ashutosh Pandey and Siddhanth Pandey, who had filed separate petitions challenging the halt on their promotions. The court’s decision vacated its earlier interim order from January 23, 2024, which had temporarily paused the promotions due to a procedural delay.
The petitioners highlighted that despite passing the recruitment examination following the January 11, 2016, advertisement, a delay in the issuance of their appointment letters by the state government resulted in a reduction in their seniority. This administrative lag led to their exclusion from the promotion list forwarded by the Revenue Council to the government on November 10, 2023.
Addressing the court, Additional Advocate General Kuldeep Pati Tripathi acknowledged the significant shortfall of tehsildars in the state, with 380 posts currently vacant. He assured the court of the government’s willingness to consider the promotion of all eligible candidates and noted that a proposal to relax the promotion criteria had been submitted to the government by the Revenue Council on October 17, 2024.
If accepted, this proposal would enable the promotion of all petitioners, potentially alleviating the current deficit in tehsildar positions across the state. The court has urged the government to expedite its decision on this proposal, emphasizing the urgent need to fill the vacancies and streamline administrative operations within the state’s revenue department.
