Judgment

HEGDE J.: The appellant and the third respondent are serving in the Agricultural Department of the Bihar Government.. Till February 1968 Mr. B. N. Sinha was the Director of the Agriculture in that State. He retired in February of that year. On November 25, 1967, the State Government of Bihar wrote to the Public Service Commission requesting the Commission to select one of the fourteen officers shown in the list accompanying that letter for being promoted as Director of Agriculture. The pay scale of some of those officers was Rs. 900-1400 and others Rs. 1200-1700. In that letter the Government stated that the question of seniority of those officers is still under consideration and the list sent was not arranged in accordance with seniority. The Commission wrote to the Government on April 29, 1968 asking the Government to determine the seniority of those officers before it is asked to recommend one of them for being appointed as Director of Agriculture. The Government wrote back to the Commission on September 23. 1969 stating that the question of seniority of those officers cannot be easily settled as there were some complications and the Commission should proceed to select o