Judgement

SHAH, J.: By order dated December 15, 1966,* this Court called upon the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir to "gather the necessary material, such as, the total population of the entire State, the break-up figures of the two provinces, the strength of different communities and the extent of their social and economic backwardness and the criteria applied by the State in that regard", and to make a report in that behalf. The report has now been submitted to this Court together with copies of the evidence oral and documentary produced by the parties. It is unfortunate that the learned Judge who heard the matter did not record his opinion on the evidence. We do not, however, on the view we take deem it necessary to send back the papers for recording the opinion of the High Court on the evidence led by the parties pursuant to the previous order.

* reported in AIR 1967 SC 1283

2. The petitioners had by the writ petition claimed that in declining to promote them and others similarly circumstanced to the gazetted cadre, the State had "acted purely on communal basis inasmuch as senior members of the Service belonging" to one community had been place below the junior-most members of othe