Judgment

P. JAGANMOHAN REDDY, J. :- This appeal is by Special Leave against the summary rejection of the Letters Patent Appeal challenging the Judgment of a Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The appellant was an Assistant Grade Clerk in the Police Department in the State of Punjab prior to its Reorganisation. Respondent 4 was also occupying a similar post in the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (hereinafter called Pepsu ) as Head Assistant which was equivalent to the post of an Assistant. At the time of the States reorganisation a provisional list of the persons in this service was prepared and published in 1957 in which the 4th Respondent was given 36th place while 5 others namely Prakash Chand, Jaswant Singh, Gurcharan Dass Vaid (the Appellant), Santokh Singh and Hem Raj were given 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st place respectively. Respondent 4 appealed to the Government of India which under the State Reorganisation Act 1956 was the competent authority to determine this question, against his seniority in the provisional list. While this appeal was pending promotions were made and Prakash Chand and Jaswant Singh were promoted as Deputy Superintendent (Office)