Judgment

HEGDE, J.:- These petitions are brought by some of the Gazetted Officers serving in the forest department of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Some of them are serving as Conservators of Forests, some as Divisional Forest Officers and others as Assistant Conservators of Forests. All of them feel aggrieved by the selections made from among the officers serving in the forest department of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian Forest Service, a service constituted in 1966 under Section 3 (1) of the All India Service Act, 1951 and the rules framed thereunder. Hence they have moved this Court to quash Notification No. 3/24/66-A-15(IV), dated the 29th July 1967 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, as according to them the selections notified in the said notification are violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution and on the further ground that the selections in question are vitiated by the contravention of the principles of natural justice. They are also challenging the vires of Section 3 of the All India Services Act, Rule 4 of the rules framed under that Act and Regulation 5 of the Indian Forest Service (Initial Recruitment) Regulations 1966, framed under the aforementioned Rule 4.

2. Section 2 (A) of the All India Services Act, 1951 authorises the Central Government to constitute three new All India Services including the Indian Forest Services. Section 3 provides that the Central Government shall after consulting the Government of the State concerned including that of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to make rules for the regulation of recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed to those All India Services. Sub-section (2) of Section 2 prescribes that all rules made under that section "shall be laid for not less than fourteen days before Parliament as soon as possible after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications, whether by way of repeal or amendment, as Parliament may make on a motion made during the session in which they are so laid".

3. In pursuance of the power given under Section 3, rules for recruitment to the Indian Forest Service were made in 1966-Indian Forest Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1966. The only rule relevant for our present purpose is Rule 4 (1) which reads:

"As soon as may be after the commencement of these rules, the Central Government may recruit to the service any person from amongst the members of the State Forest Service adjudged suitable in accordance with such Regulations as the Central Government may make in consultation with the State Governments and the Commission".

4. The Commission referred to in the above rule is the Union Public Service Commission. The Proviso to that sub-rule is not relevant for our present purpose. We may next come to the Regulations framed under Rule 4 (1). Those Regulations are known as the Indian Forest Service (Initial Recruitment) Regulations, 1966. They are deemed to have come into force on July 1, 1966. Regulation 2 defines certain expressions, Regulation 3 provides for the constitution of a special selection board. It says that for the purpose of making selection to any State cadre, the Central Government shall constitute a special selection board consisting of the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission or his nominee, the Inspector General of Forests of the Government of India, an officer of the Government of India not below the rank of Joint Secretary, the Chief Secretary to the State Government concerned or the Secretary of that Government dealing with the forests and the Chief Conservator of Forests of the State Government concerned. Regulation 4 prescribes the conditions of eligibility. That Regulation contemplates the formation of a service in the senior scale and a service in the junior scale. Regulation 5 is important for our present purpose. It deals with the preparation of the list of suitable candidates. It reads:

"(1) The Board shall prepare, in the order of preference, a li