A. K. Subraman & Ors. Etc. v. Union of India and Ors.

Judgment

GoswAMI, I. The petitioners in Writ Petition No. 489 of 1972 nre

l> confirred Assistant Engineers in the Central Engineering Service (Clasi Il). They were promoted to officiate as Executive Engineers in Clast I between December 27, 1956 and September 8, 1959, by a properly constituted Departmental Promotion Committee and have been work·

ing ~Executive Engineers in the Central Public Works Department of the Ministry of Works and Housing of the Government of India. Ex·

c:ept one petitioner (namely, K. G. Chopra) 'All the petitioners wero promoted to the grade· of Executive Engineer prior to their confirma·

tion as Assistant Engineers. The respondents 4 to 66 were initially recruited as· Assistant Bxecutive Bngineers in Class 1 and were pro moted to the grade ot Bxecutive Engineer between the period March 11, 1957 and February 23, 1966. · · The appellants in Cjvil Appeals Nos. 1745 of 1974 and 1746 and

1747 of 1974, who were recruited directly to Class II as a result of competitive examination in which they had failed to. secure requisite

marks for being selected for Class I, are also confirmed Assistant Engi neers in Grade ll and have been officmting as Executive Engineers in Grade I. They have obtained special leave against the Full Bench judgment of the Delhi High Court in their writ petitions under Articll 226 of tho Constitution decided by a common judgment of 20th May,

1971. Since a common question of law is involved in all these mattera, this judgment will govern all the above matters. We will, therefore,

include the 'appellants also in describing them as petitioners in thi1 judgment.

The Service with which we are concerned is tho Central Engineerina Service, Class I. According to the; Central Engineering Service, Claso

I, Recruitment Rules (briefly the Rules) framed in the year 1954 by S.R.0. 1841 dated May 21, 1964, which are admittedly similar M

Chose of 1949 Recruitment Rules, officers in tho grade of Assistant llfecutive Engineer (Class I) and certain Assistant Engineers (Ciao

II) oro eliaible for promotion to tho plies of Executive Bngineer be filled by promotion from the aforesaid two grades in the ratio of 75% and 25%. The aforesaid quota was retrospectively altered with effect from September 7, 1955, to 66-2/3% and 33-1/3%.

Part I of the Rules contains the definitions. By Rule 2(b) thereof, "The Commission" means the Union Public Service Commission. Rulo 2(c) defines "The Service" as the 'Central Engineering Service, Class I. The Service includes various grades of posts.

Rules 3, 4 and 5 relevant for our purpo!ie are as under :

"3. Recruitment to the service shall be made by any of the following methods:- · (a) By cOIDpetitive examination in India in accordance with Part ID of these rules.

(b) By promotion in accordance with Part IV of these Rules.

· (c) By tramfer in accordance with Part V of these Rules.

4. ( 1) All ap~tment.s to the 1ervice or to posts borne upo11 th1~ cadre of the Service shall be made by Government.

( 2) Subject to the provisions ol'. rule 3 Government shall dE;termine the method or metho<;!s of requirement (sic) (recruitment?) to be employed for the purpose of filling any particular vacande! in the Service or 1uch vacancies therein as may be required to be filled during any particular period and the number of candidates to be recruited by each method.

Provided that all recruitments by competitive ex amination ( li.de Part Ill of the rules) shall ho to the 81'8de of ~sistant Executil'e Engineer, Class I only.

Seventy-five per cent of the vacancies in the grade of Executive Engineer, Class I, shall be filled by pro motion of Assistant Executi.ve Engineers, Class I, the re11t of the vacancies being 11lled by promotion and/ or by transfer in accordance with Parts IV and V of the Rules respectiYely.

5. Appointments to the Servic~ made otherwise than by promotion will be subject to orders issued from time to time by the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding special represen tation in the Semces for specific sec:tions of the people.

As noted earlier the quota tor promotion between the directly

aass recruited Assistant Executive EI1gineers and promotees from which was initially in the ratio<>f⁷75% and 25%, was later altered to ~²/³% and 33-1/3% in 1956 and with effect from April 1, 1972:, the percentage has come to be '0:50 for a period of se~en years.

Engineers the petitioners and respondents 4 to '66 were holding inter changeable posts, the nature of work, responsibilities, powers ~ duties discharged by all of them being the same and subsequent to their pro motion all these and the pay scales were identical in every respect. Prior to the promotion, however, the pay !iC1lle of the petitioners was dilierent from that of the Assistant Executive Engineer1 who wero already in Grade I. The Assistant Executive Engineers are directly recruited to Grade I by competitive examination and somctimct Alsi! tant Engineers (Class II) are also recruited by the same competiti'fo examinatlon to Class II when they cannot qualify with the req-uisito marks to obtain entry in Class I Services. Besides, Oass ID Offiurs are also promoted to Class II. In order, therefore, to give inctnti'ft of

c promotion tQ employees in Class n, who have already gathered ex perience in the service, .a certain percentage of quota is resemd for their promotion to the grade of Executive BnsiJiecr in the recruitment rules.

The Principal grievance of the petitioners is aaainst the seniority list as on 1-1-1971 (Annexure 'J') where the petitioners have bee shown as Junior to the respondents 4 to 66 (in Writ Petition No. 489 of 1972) and to the respondents in the other two appeals. AccordinJ to them notwithstanding the fact that they were recruited by promotion to qfficiate in the grade of Executive Engineer regularly .as a result cf selection by the Departmental Promotion Committee and they ban been working in that capacity for nearly 13 yem or over their ~· were not considered for the purpose of promotion to the still higher grades in Class I and Assistant &ecutive En&incen recruited 11e.eral years after their recruitment have been held to be senior to them and some of them have bee111 promoted to the next higher &J.1ldcs ignorin1 their claim. ·

It is admitted that there are no statutory seniority rulCll as such and both sides depend upon certain meniorandum issued by tho Government of Indin in the Home Department to establish their rrspcctive clain1s.

According to the mpondents it is manifest in the quota nile that there is an implied rotational system by which only at the time of con firmation of the petitioners as Bx_i:cutive Engineers the seniority m11y be fixed .in accordance with the quota. According to the learned Soli cik>r General appearing on behalf of the Union of India the petitioners, who were conftrmcd in Class n, have a lien in that grade and they cannot be exp~ to belong to two grades at the same time. It ~. therefore, only at the time of confirmation against permanent vacancies that for tht first time the petitioners may be held to have been rec ruited to class I of the Service.. Since according to him the recruitment is from two sources it is essential that recruitment can only be under stood within the meaninl!I of these rules to have taken place at the timD of confirmation of the petitioners in the superior grade, namely, Oaaa I. Necessarily, therefore, says the learned Solicitor General, the quota nJkl applies at the stage of confirmation and seniority would be relateable to confirmation in Grade I of the Service.

in rule 4(2) providing·for promotion:

"23(1) No Assistant Engineer, Class II ahall be promoted as Assistant Executive Engineer, Class I.

(2) Recruitment by promotion to the Grado of Executive Engineer, Class I shall be made by aelection from among permanent Assistant ~neers in the Central En.gineering Service, Class II, after consultation with the Commiasion. No officer shall have any claim to 1uch promotion u of right.

(3) No Asaistant Engineer shall be eligiblo for promotion t.o the Service, unless he- (a) would, but for age, bo qualified for ad.mission to tho competitive examination under Part III of theoe Rules.

(b) hru1 rendered at least three year•' liervice in a pcrmaneut or temporary capacity as an Assistant Engineer and aubordinate under tho C'.entral Government; and ( c) satisfies the Com.mission that he is in every respect tuitabl~ for appointment to the Service.

4. It shall not be necessary to consult the ~ion, under this rule, in tho case of any person, if tho Commission bad been c:ons,µlt.ed in connection with his temporary prom<r tion to tho Service.

The learned Solicitor General draw& our particular attention tc1 rule 23(2) which provides that recruitment to the grade of Executive: &gineer (Class I) has to be made by selection from amongst perma-· ncnt Assistant Engineers in Class II. He submits that the word 'perma··. nent' in sub-rule (2) is very significant. Since recruitment by pr9m<>· tion can be made only from amongst permanent Assistant Engineers, there can be no recruitment earlier when an Assistant Engineer i& holding his post in an officiating or temporary capacity. According to• him the petitioners could not be aaid to be recruited to Oass I when. they were not permanent As.~istant Engineers. Again accordip.g to him. the petitioners could be considered as permanent Assistant Engineer& only when they were confirmed in their posts in Oass II. According t.o the respondenlll, confirmation and not ·officiating appointment in the fade of Executive Engineer is sine qua 1wn of recruitment to Oasa

· As stated earlier there are no statutory seniority rules as such. The whole question will turn on the construction of rulo 4 read with rule 23 and also aDtY other appropriate administrative instruction& issued by the Ministry of Homo Mairs with regard to the principles for determining seniority. We have already quot.ed tho said roles. We have

to consider the Memorandum the Home Ministry dated Jwte llO'Q of.

22, U>.49 (Anneraro 0·1) ond another 1imilcr Memorandum dated December 22, 1959 (Annexure G-11). The latter Memorandum gives an annexure containing the general principles for determination of seniority in the Central Services. .

Mr. Bhandare followed by Mr. Rao relies upon the Memorandum of June 22, 1949 and agrees with the learned Solicitor General that the

· Memorandum of December 22, 1959, is not relevant. But the learned Solicitor General goes further to submit that the Memorandum of June 22, 1949, is also not relevant as it deals with seniority of displaced ·Jovernment servants who have been absorbed temporarily in the Cent ral Government and the petitioners do not fall in that category. On the other hand, the petitioners submit that from the Memorandum of t>ecember 22, 1959, it is clear that,although the instructions contained

c in the Memorandum dated June 22, 1949, were issued in order to safeguard the interests Of the displaced Government nervants, later on "as the specific objects underlying the instructions cited above have been achieved, there is no longer any reason to apply those instructions in preference to the normal principles for determinatipn of seniority. Tha Memorandum proceeds "it has, therefore, been decided in consultation with the Union Public Service Commission that hereafter the

ienioriy of all persons appointed to various Central Services after

th~ the date of these instructions should be determained in accordance with the General Principles annexed hereto". "The instructions con tained in th~ various office Memorandum cited in paragraph 1 (inclu ding that of June 22, 1949) above are hereby cancelled, except in regard to determination of seniority of persons appointed to the various Central Services prior to the date of this Office Memorandum. The revised General Principles embodied in the Annexure will not apply with retrospective effect, but .will come into force with effect from the d&te of issue of these orders, unless a di.fferl!nt date in res.Peet of any particular service/grade from (sic (for?) which revised principles are to be adopted for purpose of determining seniority has already been or is hereafter agreed to by this Ministry".

It i~, tberefore, clear that so far as the petitioners are concerned the Memorandum of December 22, 1959, is not attracted. On the other hand the Memorandum of June 22, 1949, will clearly apply (See Union of India and Others v. M. Ravi Varma and Others, etc,(¹ Para 2 of that Memorandum may now be quoted :-

"2. The question of seniority of Assistants in the Secre tariat was recently examined very carefully in consultation with all the Minl~tries and the Federal Public Service Com mission and the decisions reached are incorporated in para 8 of the instnictions for the initial constitution of the grade i1f Assistants, an extract of which is attached. It has been decided that this nile should generally be taken as the model in framing the rules of seniority for other services and in res- · pect of persons employed in any particular grade seniority should, a~ a general rule, be determined on the basis of· the length of service in that grade as well as service in an equiva lent grade irrespective of whether the latter was under C:mtral or Provincial Government in India or Pakistan".

Paragraph 8 to which a reference is made in the above Memoran dum !''~ads as follows :-

"8. Seniority of Assistants in Grade IV as newly consti tuted. The names . of all existing permanent Assistant who are included in the permanent strength of the service and who were confirmed in their pas.ts prior Lo the 22nd October, 1943, will be arranged in the first instance Ministry-wise in accordance with the rules in force at present. Such perma nent Assistance will be considered senior to all others confir meci in pursuance of these instnictions in vacancies arising upto the~ 22nd Oi;tober, 1950. The order of seniority of the latter group of Assistants, namely, those confu~d after the 22nd October, 1943, which will be arranged in a single list for all Ministries, will be determined inter se on the basis of their length of continuous service, temporary or permanent in the grade of Assistant or in an equivalent grade, provided that any period of service during which the pay actually drawn exceeds Rs. 160/- per month should be deemed to be ~ervice in a grade equivalent to that ol an Assistant".

It is submitted on behalf of the respondents that the question. of seoiority arises between Assistant Executive Engineers and Assistant Engineers only when the latter are members of the same classes :md grade which happens only after the Assistant Engineers are confinned as Executive Engineers. It is emphasised that as between members of different classes the question of relative ~cniority cannot arise. It i~ further submitted that having regard to the nature of the scqi~me the rules provide that the grade of Assistant Executive- Engineer will consists exclusively of youngmen o~ merit proved by competitive exa.mi nation who will quickly after the necessary training have· promo:tion to the posts of Executive Engineer and above. In the c:ontext of ·,that 5chemc rule 4(2} requires 66-2/3% vacancies to be filled by the Assis tan: Executive Engineers and "the rest" by promotion of the Assistant Engineers or by transfer. We are not concerned with transfer from other service in this case. It is also contende:.I that thf: rule clearly gives preference to the extent of 66-2/3% to the Assistant Executive Engineers. It is only after their appointment to.the extent of 66-2/3% that "thie rest" comes into existence. The argument proceeds that it is only on confirmation and absorption of Assistant Engineers in aass I that the qmstion of relative seniority between them and Assistant Ex1ecu tive · Engineers promoted as Executive Engineers can arise. It is strenuously contended that an Assistant Engineer officiating as Ex•ecu tivi~ En~inee'r cannot be senior to an Assistant Executive Engineer while ofliciuting as Executive Engineer. Particular vacancies as and when they go on arising must be finally filled to give effect to 66-2 /3 % to Assis1ant En!!ineers and thereafter only the residue to Assistant Engin eers or transferred officers. It is sfressed by the respondents that ap pointment by rotation is involved in the mandate rule 4(2) itself. ments ol the learned Solicitor General reply upon an Office Memoran . tlum ot December 8, 1960, of the Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply, Government of India, on the subject of principles for seniority in tne Central Engineering Service and Central Electrical Engineering S~rvice (Class I) in the Central Public Works D~partment. The learned Solicitor General did · not address us on this Office Memo randum as he rightly found considerable difficulty in doing so. 1t will appear from the recital in this Memorandum that it has not emanated from the Home Ministry which is the appropriate Depart ment for issuing instructions in service matters under the Allocation of Business Rules of the Central Government under Article 77 ( 3) of the Constitution. Besides, this Office Memorandum refers to and relies

c upon a Notification of November ·22, 1960, of the Home Ministry, namely, U.0. No. 9/38/60-Estt(D) for issuing these instructions. The said Notification of the Home Ministry could not be traced and was not produced before us and in its absence we are unable to take into consideration the Memorandum of December 8, 1960. The learned Solicitor General is, therefore, correct in ·not referring to the same but submitted his arguments mainly on the construction of the

Recruitment Rules. He, however, did submit that wha.t was recited in para 4 of the Memorandum of December 8, 1960, actually followed Irom rule 4 ( 2) read with rule 23 and it was not, therefore,"necessary at _all to make any reference to this Memorandum.

It will be appropriate at this stage to refer to the judgment of the Delhi High Court '1nder appeal where the High Court relied upon the said Notification of December 8, 1960 and also accepted the arguments on the line made before us by the learned Solicitor General. The High Court relied upon the Circular of December 8, 1960 anci paragraph 7 of the annexure to the Office Memorandum of December 22, 1959, of the Home Ministry with regard to the relative seniority of dfrect recruits and promotees and observed as follows :-

"The ro•ational sys~em is, therefore, firstly justified by ·rule 4 (2) itself. Even if it is assumed for the sake of argu ment that rule 4(2) is silent about the rotational system, then the administrative instru~ions make it clear that the quota system in rule 4(2) has to be worked out only by the rotational system and not in any other manner".

The High Court further held as follows : -:- "The case of Shri _Ojha (appellant in Civil Appeal No. 1745 of 1974) is that because he was officiating as an Execu tive Engineer Class I from before the time the .respondent No. 9 started officiating Shri Ojha was entitled to seniority· not only against respondent No. 9 but against the other res pondents also. This stand is 'l:ontrary to the last part of rule 4 ( 2) which compels the Government to fill the vacancies in the grade of Executive Engineers Class I ~trictly by rotation system imolementing the quota rule. OU:r conclusion on question No. 1, therefore, is that the earlier confirmation and 4(2) ministrative instructiolls".

The administrative instruction which is refened to in the above extract is to be found in the aforementioned paragraph 6 of the Circu lar of December 22, 1959, regarding relative seniority of direct recruits and promcitees. ·

We have already made it dear that the Memorandum of December 22 1959 is not applicable in this particular case. We have, theie fo;e to ;xamine whether it is correct to hold that it is implicit in rule' 4(2) read with rule 23 \that the rotational system is necessarily implied to the extent of denying . seniority to the petitioners if appointed regularly earlier. within their quota at the time· of recruit ment. We have also to examine the.correctness of the submission as to whether the Assistant Engineers after they are confirmed as sw:h .and continlue to hold the appo:ntments of Executive Engineer in regular course of selection through the · Departmental PromotiC)n Committee presided over by a member of the Union Public Service Commission are entitled to claim seniority vis-a-vis the Assistant Executive Engineers when promoted subsequent to their appointmen¹t~.

Now the questiop which arises for consideration is what is the meaning of the words "vacancies in the grade ·of Executive Enginee1r" as used in the aforesaid paragraph of rule 4(2). Whe~ does a vacancy in the grade of Executive Engineer arise? To answer this question it is necessary t<) ascertain what are the p~ts which the grade of Execu tive Engineer consists of,.for the vacancies can only be in the posts in the grade of Executive Engineer. The word "grade" has various shades cif meaning in the service jurisprudence. It is sometimes u~f:d to den~te a pay scale and sometimes. a cadre. Here it is obviously used in the sense of cadre. A cadre may consists only of permanent posts or sometimes, as is quite common these days, also of temporary posts. To give one example, the cadre of Income Tax Oll!.cers, Claus I, Grade II, as pointed out by this Court in Bishan Sarup Gupta¹¹. Union of Indi,i and Others(¹) in para 18 of the report, consisted of '.'permanent artd temporary posts". Here in the present case it h21s been _stated on oath by P. K. Kulkarni, Under Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Housing, in paragraph 7 of his Affidavit-in~ reply at piige 252 of the Paper Book that "there are permanent and temporary posts sanctioned from time to time in the grade of Execu tive Engineer, Class I. Promotion,s from the grade of Assistant Executive Engineers and/or Assistant Engineers are initially made in an officiating c~apacity against the available vacancies ..... " the avail able vacancies obviously being in the permanent and temporary pos<ls in the grade of Executive Engineer. Paragraph 23 of the same Affi davit-in-reply at page 257 of the record is also to the same effect : "I say that there are permanent and temporary posts sanctioned in the grade of Executive Engineer". It is. therefore dear that the cadre ~f Execu:tive l~ngineer consists both of permanent posts and tempo-

s.c.c.

tary posts. Even from the statement of sanctioned strength of Engineering Officer Class I, Central P.W.D., from 1960 to 1972 filed by the Solicitor General in the course of argument it is apparent that the cadre includes bdth permanent and temporary posts. Whenever therefore, a vacancy arises in a permanent post or i11 a temporary post it would be a vacancy in the grade of Executive Engineer and the quota rule for promotion would apply.

The above conclusion at which we have reached is reinforced also by a referehce to rule 2 of section 6 in Chapter V at pa~ 31 of the C.P.W.D. Manual, Volume I (1970 edition) <hereinafter referred to as the Manual) wherein "every officer appointed against a permanent. or temporary post" is specifically adverted to. Again at page 35, ·rule · 19 (b), there is a reference to Class I Dirt:ct Recruits (temporary). Indeed we find an admission in paragraph 67 of. the Affidavit-in-reply filed by P.B. Kulkarni at page 271 of the record: "I submit that the quot a rule is to be applied as and when vacancies in the grade of Executive Engineer are required t9 be filled but as already stated earlier it has n:ot been possible to apply this quota rigidly at the .tiine of officiating promotions as promotions from the grade of 'Assistant Engineer have been far in excess of their quota".

· It may also be noted that it is at the stage of promotion to the grade of.Executive Engineer that the quota rule is to. be applied. Now there is a well-recognised distinction between "promotion" and "c9n firmation" and that is apparent from the Manual, Chapter VI, Section 6 at pages 46-47. Rule 6 at page 47 says that promotions by a Depart mental Promotion Committee cin the basis of assessment of rrerit from a field of choice which may extend upto 5-6 times the number of ex pected vacancies, while rule 4 provides that tl1e confirmation is subject . to sati§factory performance and clearance from the vigilance angle and the confidential dossier of the official concerned is required to be re\'iewed to see that the individual . has been reported satisfactorily during the period onast three years as may be fixed by the Depart mental Promotion Committee for the purpose and if the· reports are

-F unfavourable or below average, the incumbent shall have to wait for . a further period till he gains satisfactory repo~ts. The tests to be applied for the purpose of "promotion" and "confirmation" are entirely different. When promotion is made by selection, as it is, from amongst Assistant Engineers,. it is based on the assessment of relative merit from a field choice consisting of the seniormost persons in the lower cadre upto about 5 or 6 times the number of expected vacancies, while for confirmation the only aspect considered is whether the performance of the incumbent is satisfactory and there is nothing obJectionable-from the vigilence angle. Then again section 7 of Chapter V of the Manual deals wifu the subject of promotion while section 8 of the same chapter deals with the subject of confirmation clearly recognising the distinc tion between promotion and confirmation. Rule 4 of section 7 at page 48 also makes a clear distinction 'between promotion and confirmation. Rule 9 of the same section at page 50 lays down the procedure for promotion to the selection posts and this procedure has clearly no application in cases of confirmation. It was this procedure which was apparently followed when the petitioners and respon_dents 67 to 118 irrespective of whether the vacancies are in permanent posts or tempora11y posts.

But then the question may arise as to how the quota rule is to be applied. Here again we find that guidance is afforded by the decision of this Court in Bishan Sarup Gupta's case (supra). Paragraph l.4 of the judgment in that case deals with this very question vis-a-vis recruitment to the cadre of Income Tax Officers, Grade II, Class I :

"On the other hand, the contention on behalf of the direct recruits fo that the real intentionl of the rule was to secure that at any giyen moment the service must consist of direct recruits and promotees in the proportion of 2: 1. If, for example, in any year 50 direct recruits were appointed, .t han not more than 25 promo tees could be appointed in that year. If also no direct recruit was appointed in a year ther!l coul(J be no appointment of promotees. This line of argument has been accepted by the High Court and it was substantially on that ground that the. seniority list prepared on July 15, 1968, has been set aside and directions i,riven for preparing a fresh one. What was, howeve~, over-looked is that the rule, dated October 18, 1951, was not concerned with the aonstitution of the cadre but was concerned as to ,how permanent vacancies were to be filled. · Rule 4 of the 'Income-tax Class I, Grade II Service Recruitment Rulesralso refers to recruitment of candidates to vacancies in the s¹~rvice. The vacancies for any particular year ·being ascertained, not more than one third of the same were to go to the promotees and the rest to the direct recruits. The ratio was not made dependent· on whether any direct recruit was appointed in any particular yea1: or not. We are, therefore, unable to accept the construction put on the quota rufo by the High Court. In our opinion, the promotees were entitled to one-third of the vacancies in any particular year whether or not there was

direct recruitment by competitive examin~tion in that year".

It would, therefore, be seen that the . Assistant Executive Engineers were entitled initially to three-fourth and subsequently to two-third of the vacancies in the grade of Executive Engineers arising in any particular year, while Assistant Engineers were entitled initially to one-fourth· and subsequently to one-third of such_ vacancies and th¹~ ratio was· not dependent on whether any persons from one class or the other were promoted or not. If there were three vacancies in a year, two would go to the Assistant Executive Engineers while_ om~ would go to the· Assistant Engineers and even if there were no el_i,gibl<~ Assistant Executive Engineers, who could be promoted to fill fa two vacancies belonging to their quota, one vacancy will have to be filled by promotion of an Assistant Engineer. If having regard to th1: exigencies of the situation, the two vacancies belonging to the quota of Assistant Executive Engineers had to be filled in by Assistant Engi neers for want 'of availability of eligible Assistant Executive Engineers, cies would be irregular, because that would be outside their quota and . in that event they would have to be pushed down to later years whep their appointment can be regularised a§ a result of absorption in their lawful quota for those years. This is what was directed to be done by this Court for the purpose of fixing inter se seniority amongst direct recruits and promotees in the grade of Income Tax Officers Grade II. · Class· I, in Bishan Sarup Gupta's case (supra). This Court pointed out in that case as follows at page 8 :- .

"If there w_ere promotions in any year in excess of the quota those promotions were merely invalid for that year but they were not invalid for all time. They can be regularised by being absorbed in the quota .for the later years. That is the reason why this Court advisedly used the expression "and onwards" just to enable the Government to push down ex cess promotions to later years so that these promotions can be absorbed in the ·1awful quota for those years''.

The same procedure wlll have to be followea in the present case. Whenever it is found that Assistant Engineers were promoted as offi ciating Executive Engineers in .excess of their quota they would have to be pushed down to later iyears in order tliat their promotion may be regularised by being absorbed in their quota for later years.

When recruitment is from two' or severa~ sources it should ·be ·· observed that there is no inherent invalidity in introduction ·of quota system and to work it out oy a rule of rotation. The existence of a quota and rotational rule, by itself, will not violate article 14 or article 16 of the Constitu!tion (See Marvyn Coutinho & Ors. v. Collector of Customs, Bombay & Ors.,(¹ and Govind Dattatray Kelkar & Ors. v.

) Chief Controller of ~mports & Exports & Ors.) .(2) It is the unreas onable implementation of the same which may, in a given case, attract the frown of the equality clause. If the seniority list is now properly prepared in the manner indicated in this judgment, there may be no objection on the score of article 14 or article ~⁶ of the Constitution. In this view of: the matter, it is not necessary to pursue the arguments addressed regarding violation of articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

To summarise the conclusions- (1) When Assistant Engineers (Class II) are initi~lly appointed in a regular manner in accordance with the rules to officiate as Executive Engineers, their seniori ty in service in Grade I will count from the date of their initial officiating appointment in Class I pro vided their initial officiating appointment as Execu tive Engineers was within their quota.

(2) Their seniority will not be reckoned from the date

of their future confirmation in CI'ass I.

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reservation, namely, if a11 Assistant Engineer before his confirmation in Class II were appointed to oftlclate in Class I in the grade of Executive· Engineer, al though within his' quota, his seniority will count only from the date of his confirmation in Class II as per manent Assistant Engi!¹.~l~r notwithstanding his earlier officiating appointment¹.¹~s Executive Engineer.

"' ( 3) The quota rule will be enforced at. . the time of initial

recruitment, in an officiating·capacity,.to the grade of Executive Engineer and not at the time of co11firma

tion.

t4) The quota rule will be enforced with reference to

vacancies in a11 posts, whether permanent or tempo rary, included in the sanctioned strength of the cadre (except such vacancies as are purely of a fortuitous -or adventitious nature) and the operation of the quota rule will not depend upon the availability or non availability of Assistant Executive Engineers for appointment as Executive Engineers. The non-avail ability of Assistant Executive Engineers for recruit·· ment to the grade of Executiv~ Engineer will not postpone the regular recruitment of the Assistant Ex ..

ecutive Engineers as Executive Engineers within theil'

quota.

(5) Once the Assistant Engineers are regularly appointed

to officiate as Executive Engineers within their quota they wi!U be entitled to consideration in their ow11 rights· as Class I Officers .to further promotions.

Their "birth marks" in their earlier service will b~ of no releyance once they are regularly officiating in

the grade of Executive Engineer with~ their quot11.

( 6) If Assistant Engineers are recruited as E."Cecutive

Engineers in excess of their quota in a particular year they will be pushed down to later ryears for absorption

when due within their quota.

In the re~ult the Writ Petition and the Civil Appeals nre allowed.

The judgment of the High Court is set aside. The respondents 1

to 3 in Writ Petition No. 489 of 1972 (respondent No. 1 beint~· com

mon in the other two Appeals) are directed to amend and revise the this judgment and to give effect thereafter to· the revised seniority list so prepared. The revision of the seniority list shall not, however, affect those employees who are not impleaded in the proceedings before this Court and who have already been promoted and confirmed in higher grades in the Serv,ice. Respondents 1 to 3 will pay the. costs of the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 489 of 1972 and respondent No. J will pay to the appellants in the Civil Appeals costs through out.

C.M.P. No. 1889 of 1974 regarding delay in filling of the counter affidavit on behalf of respondents 1 to 3 in tlie Writ Petition is

c allowed.

We may observe in ·the end that it may be desirable that the time of -this Court may not be consumed in resolving these complex tangles in conditions of service breeding human discontent and the solution thereof is better left to a fair and proper formulation of precise and unequivocal statutory rules after examination of the problems with a broad humane approach.

P.H.P. Petitions and Appeals allowed.