Section 20 of Kerala High Court Service Rules, 2007

20. Promotion and appointment by transfer :- (1) (a)The following categories shall be treated as selection categories for promotion which shall be made on ground of merit and ability, seniority being considered only where merit and ability are approximately equal. 1. Registrar General 2. Registrar (Subordinate Judiciary) 3. Registrar( Judicial) 4. Joint Registrar 5. Deputy Registrar 6. Assistant Registrar 7. Section Officer/ Court Officer/ Court Fee Examiner 8. Private Secretary to Judge 9. Chief Librarian 10.Librarian 11.Reference Librarian 12.Assistant Librarian 13.Head Translator 14.Office Superintendent (b) In all other cases promotion shall be on the basis of seniority subject to fitness. (2) (a) One fifth of the posts of Assistant Registrars shall be filled up by promotion of graduates (other than law graduates)working in the category of Section Officer (Higher Grade)/ Court Officer(Higher Grade), subject to the following conditions: (i) they must have completed 50 years of age. (ii) they must be willing to be appointed as Assistant Registrars. (iii) their capacity and competence to hold the post must be certified by a committee consisting of Registrar General, Registrar (Subordinate Judiciary) and Registrar (Judicial). (iv) if a qualified non law graduate is not available for promotion on the date of occurrence of vacancy, it shall be filled up by eligible law graduate. Provided that an eligible law graduate who is senior shall not be superseded by a non law graduate by the application of this clause. (b) Appointment as Section Officer/Court Officer/ Court Fee Examiner shall be made from among Selection Grade Assistant, Personal Assistant to Judge Grade-I , Translator, Translator(Kannada), Cataloguer, Selection Grade Typist and Selection Grade Typist Copyist. Inter se seniority among these categories will be determined with reference to their date of appointment as Assistant, Personal Assistant to Judge Grade II, Translator, Translator(Kannada), Cataloguer, Typist Grade-I and Senior Grade Typist Copyist, provided that Assistants appointed prior to 25.3.2006, shall be entitled to seniority with effect from the date of appointment as Assistant Grade-I or 25.3.2006 whichever is earlier. The seniormost in the category of Section Officer/Court Officer/Court Fee Examiner shall be promoted as Section Officer (Higher Grade)/ Court Officer(Higher Grade). Provided that for the posts sanctioned as Section Officer, law degree/ Judicial Test (Higher) prescribed as a general qualification shall not be insisted for promotion from the categories of Selection Grade Assistant and Personal Assistant to Judge Grade-I. Of the sanctioned posts of Section Officers, four shall be reserved for promotion from the category of Personal Assistant to Judge Grade-I and the rest be filled up from the category of Selection Grade Assistant subject to passing of Account Test(Lower), High Court Office Procedure Test, Civil Judicial Test and Criminal Judicial Test in addition to holding of University Degree. Explanation 1: Incumbents promoted from the post of Personal Assistant to Judge to the post of Section Officer / Court Officer/ Court Fee Examiner may be ordered to be posted in exigencies of service to work as Personal Assistant to Judge. In such cases, they shall be considered for further promotion according to their turn to higher posts of Private Secretary to Judge and Private Secretary to Judge (Higher Grade). They shall also be considered for promotion as Section Officer(Higher Grade)/ CourtOfficer(Higher Grade) and higher posts according to their turn. The incumbent shall opt which of the promotions in the two channels shall be regular and which shall be notional. Subject to the orders passed in exigencies of service, he shall normally be allowed to work in the post carrying the higher scale of pay among the two promotion posts. Explanation 2 :Personal Assistant to Judge Grade-I promoted as Selection Grade Personal Assistant to Judge before his turn arose for promotion as Section Officer/Court Officer/Court Fee Examiner shall also be considered according to his turn for promotion notwithstanding his promotion as Selection Grade Personal Assistant to Judge. Explanation 3: Seniority in the cadre of Section Officer/ Court Officer/ Court Fee Examiner shall be reckoned with effect from the date of first appointment to one of the said posts, subject to the restriction that the seniority of Court Fee Examiners shall be reckoned only with effect from 21.5.2004 or from the date of appointment whichever is later. Explanation 4 : Court Officers who are in service on the date of coming into force of these Rules and who have relinquished their promotion to the post of Court Officer(Higher Grade) to work in the post of Librarian / Reference Librarian/ Assistant Librarian will be notionally promoted to the post of Section Officer (Higher Grade)/ Court Officer(Higher Grade) with effect from the date their turn arose, but without any monetary benefits. (c)Notwithstanding anything contained in rule 20(2)(b), not more than five posts of Section Officer/Court Officer/Court Fee Examiner may be filled by promotion of graduates(other than law graduates) working in the categories of Translator, Translator(Kannada), Selection Grade Typist, Selection Grade Typist Copyist or Cataloguer subject to the following conditions; (i)they must have completed 50 years of age and 20 years of total service, the service being calculated after taking into account the service from the date of appointment as Translator, Translator(Kannada),Typist Grade II, Typist Copyist Grade I and Cataloguer, as the case may be; (ii) they must be willing to be appointed as Court Officers; (iii) their capacity for bench work/supervision must be certified by a committee consisting of the Registrar General, Registrar( Judicial) and the Joint Registrar; (iv) a law graduate who is senior to a non law graduate shall not be superseded by a non law graduate by the application of this clause. (d) The members of the Service working in different categories in Divisions II , III and IV withscales of pay lower than that of Assistant shall be eligible for appointment to ten percent of the cadre strength of Assistant if they are in possession of a University degree, and found suitable by the Chief Justice for such appointment, subject to the following conditions- (i)direct recruits to the categories of Typist Grade II, Typist-Copyist Grade II, Telephone Operator, Library Assistant, Clerical Assistant, Chauffeur Grade II, Motor Car Mechanic,Electrician-Cum-Plumber, Plumber, Civil Sergeant and Care Taker, must have completed a minimum of four years regular service in one or other of the said categories and in the case of others, they must have completed either four years regular service in one or other of the above said categories or seven years of total regular service in the High Court ; (ii) vacancies that remain unfilled for want of sufficient suitable and qualified hands, shall be filled up by direct recruitment. (iii)notwithstanding anything contained in these Rules, on such appointment as Assistant, they shall cease to be eligible for further promotion in their former categories. (iv) suitability shall be determined on the basis of a written test and interview. (e) Promotion to the category of Higher Grade Peon/Last Grade Employee Grade I shall be from the categories of Peon, Watchman, Vacuum Cleaner Operator, Sweepercum- Peon Sweeper, Sanitation Worker and Cook treating them as one category, their seniority being determined with reference to the date of their first appointment to such categories. (f) Five percent of the total cadre strength of the category of Peon may be filled up by appointment of suitable and qualified Part-time Sweepers/Sanitation Workers in the High Court based on their seniority, provided that they have not attained the age of 50 years and for such appointment, qualification prescribed in Annexure I shall not be insisted. (3) No member of the Service shall be eligible for promotion from the category in which he was appointed unless he is declared to h a v e satisfactorily completed the period of probation, if any prescribed, in that category: Provided that a probationer in a category shall not be superseded for promotion to a higher category by his junior, if the vacancy in the higher category arises within the period specified in the Rules for completion of probation in the category in which he is a probationer and if he has passed the test or tests prescribed for successful completion of probation and is otherwise eligible and suitable for such promotion; but his promotion shall be subject to the condition that he satisfactorily completes the probation in the category from which he was promoted within the period prescribed therefor, and for this purpose the period of service put in by him in the higher category shall be reckoned towards probation in the category from which he was promoted and also in the category to which he was promoted: Provided further that if a probationer promoted in pursuance of the above proviso fails to complete his probation in the category from which he was promoted within the period prescribed therefor, his probation in the higher category shall be terminated and he shall be reverted to the category from which he was promoted, and any subsequent promotion of such person to the higher category shall not entitle such person to claim seniority in the higher category by reason only of his previous promotion in pursuance of the preceding proviso and he shall commence probation afresh in that category from the date of such subsequent promotion. (4) Promotion which depends upon the passing of any general or departmental examination shall ordinarily be made with reference to the conditions existing at the time of occurrence of the vacancies and not with reference to those at the time when the question of promotion is taken up. (5) Where a pass in any examination or test confers on a person the title to any right, benefit or concession, such title to the right, benefit or concession shall be deemed to have accrued on the day following the last day of the whole examination or test in which the candidate became fully qualified. Explanation : The principles in this sub-rule shall apply for the drawal of increment and for promotion not involving change of duties against vacancies remaining unfilled for want of test qualified persons. (6) Notwithstanding anything contained in these Rules, for promotion to higher categories, the qualifications prescribed for appointments to various posts as per these Rules will be inapplicable to incumbents in Service in the lower or feeder categories as on the date of coming into force of these Rules. Qualifications prescribed in the repealed Rules shall govern them for promotion.