JUDGMENT

Srikrishna, J.-By this appeal the State of West Bengal and its authorities impugn the judgment of the High Court at Calcutta which quashed an order of the State Government dated 23rd May, 2001 appointing the 2nd respondent as Director General and Inspector General of Police.

2. The salient facts necessary for deciding this appeal arise as follows:-

There are four posts of Director General of Police (DGP) in the State of West Bengal and they are: (a) Director General & Inspector General of Police (DG & IGP), (b) Director General & Commandant General of Home Guards (DGCGHG), (c) Director (Training) and (d) Director (Intelligence). All the four posts of DGP are in the grade and pay scale of Rs.24050-650-Rs.26000/-. The first respondent (Manas Kumar Chakraborty) and the second respondent (Dinesh Chandra Vajpai) are officers of the IPS cadre of the 1966 batch. In the initial merit list, the name of the first respondent appeared at serial no. 2 and that of the second respondent at serial no. 6.

3. On 28th December, 2000, while the second respondent was working as Addl. DGP, he was selected and empanelled for appointment as DGP. One K.P. Bandyopadhyay and one R.C. Sharma, both of t