Judgment

S. Saghir Ahmad, J.-”Magnificient promises are always to be suspect­ed” is an adage which was forgotten by the appellant and his col­leagues who not only believed such a promise but approached the Court for its enforcement in writ proceedings which have since reached this Court requiring us to decide whether the doctrine of “Promissory Estoppel” can be invoked for the enforcement of a “promise” made contrary to law.

2. The appellant is a Demonstrator in the Pharmacy Department of S.N. Medical College, Agra where he was appointed on 11.01.73 and his services on that post were regularised on 28.6.76.

3. The appellant and five of his other colleagues, working as Demon­strators in various Government Medical Colleges in U.P., filed a Writ Petition in the Allahabad High Court that the State Government as also the Director, Medical Education and Training, may be directed not to fill the posts of Lecturers in Pharmacy by direct recruitment and the same may be filled up, at least to the extent of fifty per cent, by promotion of Demonstrators working in the Department as is done in other Departments where posts of Readers are filled up, to the extent of fifty per cent by promoting the