Judgment

Venkataswami, J.-In all these appeals, the vexed and unending question of seniority between the direct recruits and promotees arises for our consideration.

2. In these appeals, the question relates to a dispute that has arisen in the cadre of Assistant Conservator of Forests, whose services are governed under the Kerala Forest Service.

3. It is common ground that recruitment to the cadre of Assistant Conservator of Forests (hereinafter called the “ACF”) is directly as well as by transfer. The proportion between the direct recruits and recruitment by transfer is also fixed as 3:2 in the Kerala Forest Service Special Rules. The seniority of a directly recruited ACF has to be determined by the date of his appointment as probationary As­sistant Conservator. It is the claim of the promotees-appellants that they were appointed by promotion as Assistant Conservator of Forests long before 1.5.78, on which date the first respondent in Civil Appeal No. 11527/95 was appointed as a probationary Assistant Conservator. The other two directly recruited Assistant Conservators were appointed as probationary Conservators subsequent to 1.5.78. Therefore, the dispute centres round the clai