ORDER

The appellants, Dalip Singh Sidhu and Chittaranjan Singh Chima were enrolled in Indian Air Force in December 7, 1957 and September 3, 1959 respectively. After completing 15 years of service, they were released from Army in their ranks as Sergeants on January 25, 1974 and December 31, 1974 respectively. When recruitment to the posts of sports personnel was advertised, they came to be appointed as junior Sports Officers by the Punjab Government on September 30, 1974 and October 29, 1976 respectively. They filed Writ Petition No. 2860/79 in the High Court claiming past service in the Air Force as demobilised army personnel. The Division Bench by judgment dated December 9, 1980 following its earlier judgment in State of Punjab v. Pritam Chand1 dismissed the writ petition. Thus, this appeal by special leave.

2. Shri A.P. Mohanty, learned counsel for the appellants, contended that the Government had applied the Punjab Demobilized Armed Force Personnel (Reservation of vacancies in Punjab State Non-Technical Service) Rules, 1977 dated April 20, 1977 with retrospective effect dated February 28, 1973. Rule 2(c) reads as under :

"2(c) release means (with its grammatical variations) relea