Bhopal: The agonising wait for promotion for more than four lakh government employees in Madhya Pradesh, going back a decade, continues as the final verdict on the new promotion rules that were cleared by the cabinet in 2025, only to be challenged in court, remains in waiting.
On June 17, a year ago, the state approved the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Promotion Rules, 2025, replacing the stalled 2002 rules that ran into legal hurdles. However, the new rules, too, got entangled in litigation after they were challenged in court, prolonging the officers' wait for a raise in rank and pay. Many retired awaiting a long-delayed promotion, as the matter remained under arbitration of the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
In a further blow to their promotion prospects, the Jabalpur bench reserved its verdict in the case upon the conclusion of final arguments on February 17. Over one lakh employees, who were entitled to a promotion since 2016, superannuated during pendency of the trial.
With the long wait now clocking 10 years, the government, as an adhoc arrangement, has started giving junior officers additional charge of senior posts. However, the deadlock has impacted fresh recruitment into the state civil service, as staffers who joined in junior posts continue to hold on to their offices despite being given additional charge of senior positions. This has further held up vacancies at the entry level, leaving little or no scope for fresh recruitments.
The government said while it tried to restart the promotion process by introducing new rules, it stalled again after a section of employees moved court challenging them. Petitioners challenging the new promotion policy argued during initial hearings that the 2025 rules were more or less the same as those of 2002, claiming that the state implemented them despite a stay imposed by the Supreme Court.
According to top government officials, the promotion process may either resume or remain on hold, adding that the government could always argue that it did set new rules and would have even given the long-pending promotions had the litigation not delayed the process. The decision to promote employees would not have added too much burden on the exchequer, as the employees are already drawing the benefits of a time-bound pay scale.
