Gender cannot be a ground to deny promotion: Tripura HC

The Tripura High Court has quashed a communication issued by the Inspector General of Prisons rejecting the promotion request of a woman jailor to the post of Deputy Superintendent (Home) Jail and directed the authorities to reconsider her case within three months.
Allowing the writ petition, the court held that there was no provision in the applicable recruitment rules to deny promotion on the basis of gender and observed that the impugned communication dated May 1, 2025, was not in accordance with law.
“The communication dated 01.05.2025 written by Inspector General of Prisons, Tripura to the petitioner (Annexure-E) stands quashed as the same appears to be contrary to the principles of natural justice. The respondents authority may consider the case of the petitioner within a period of 3(three) months for promotion to the post of Deputy Superintendent (Home) Jail, if she is found eligible in all criteria and also in accordance with the norms,” a single bench headed by Justice Biswajit Palit ruled.
The petitioner had joined the Home (Jail) Department as a Female Sub-Jailor through the Tripura Public Service Commission on September 24, 1997. She contended that despite becoming eligible for promotion to the post of Female Jailor after completing the required service, she was promoted only in October 2018 following an earlier High Court order.
She submitted that after completing five years as Jailor on October 4, 2023, she became eligible for promotion to the post of Deputy Superintendent under the recruitment rules. However, despite a direction issued by the High Court on January 7, 2025, to consider her case, the department informed her on May 1 that she was not eligible for promotion.
The petitioner argued that the recruitment rules governing promotion to the post of Deputy Superintendent did not distinguish between male and female jailors and alleged that her promotional prospects had been curtailed on the ground of gender.
“In this case, the petitioner promoted to the post of Jailor from the post of Sub-Jailor in the year 2018 and since then she was discharging the functions as Jailor initially in the Kendriya Sansodhanagar Bishalgarh and thereafter in Sonamura Jail till date satisfactorily and as per recruitment rules, she was eligible for promotion to the post of Deputy Superintendent although, by this time, the Government has promoted one Prasenjit Das as Deputy Superintendent on 04.05.2022. Furthermore, on the basis of gender discrimination the right of the petitioner being a woman cannot be curtailed by the Authority for promotion,” the order reads.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner relied on the Supreme Court's judgment in the Babita Puniya case relating to gender equality in service matters.
The state, represented by the Advocate General, submitted that promotion could not be claimed as a matter of right and urged the court to direct the petitioner to submit a fresh representation for consideration. The state also filed a counter affidavit contesting the petitioner's claim for promotion.
After hearing both sides, the court noted that there was no adverse material on record regarding the petitioner's service performance and that the recruitment rules did not provide for any gender-based distinction in promotion to the post of Deputy Superintendent.