Judgment

DUA, J.: Out of the five petitioners in this petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution, Kashmiri Lal, petitioner No. 5 having since retired, is no longer interested in the result of these proceedings. The claim of only 4 petitioners thus survives for consideration. They are officiating clerks, Grade I, in the office of Deputy Chief Accounts Officer (Traffic Accounts Br.), Northern Railway. They were promoted from Grade II after passing the departmental qualifying examination described as Appendix 2 examination. They claim that their seniority should be determined as from the date of their appointment as officiating clerks, Grade I, and not on the basis of their position in the gradation list of Clerks, Grade II. Their grievance is that they were appointed as officiating clerks, Grade I, after passing the Appendix 2 examination long before respondents 4 to 6and 11 but these four respondents are shown as senior to the petitioners on the ground of their seniority in Grade II. The petitioners seek to support their claim by relying on Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The seniority of the direct recruits to Grade I, the petitioners complain, is determined on the basis of the