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) on 25-7-58 while the Appellant was promoted on 23-8-58, Hem Raj and Santokh Singh on 6-10-58. After these promotions were given the Government of India accepted the appeal of Respondent 4 on 11-7-59 and placed him at serial No. 16 in the provisional seniority list i.e. over Prakash Chand. This decision was communicated to the Inspector General of Police on the 18th August 1959. The Inspector General of Police in the meanwhile had promoted on 7th December 1959 five other persons as officiating Deputy Superintendents who were also juniors to Respondent 4 and were in fact junior even to the first five who were earlier promoted. The respondent appealed on 15-1-60 against the first and second batch of promotions made overlooking his seniority. It is alleged that on the 18th August 1960 the State Government had examined the service records of the 10 officials who were given promotion, gave them a personal hearing and rejected the representation of Respondent 4. On 9th November 1960, Prakash Chand who was at serial No. 17 and below the seniority of Respondent 4 as accepted by the Government of India was promoted as Superintendent. It is also alleged, though we find no order of the Government stating that Respondent 4 was not considered fit for promotion and that he may wait for one more year namely upto 18-8-1960 after which his fitness or otherwise would be determined. The appellant contends that this was a case of supersession under R. 6 (3) of 1963 Rules, R. 8 of which provides that inter se seniority will only be determined by the dates of substantive appointment in the same post i.e. for the purposes of the same post and not for different posts. This averment has been made in the affidavit of the appellant but as we said, that since there is no specific order of the Government superseding Respondent 4 we cannot accept this contention as valid. This contention however is to 1642 a large extent contradicted by the fact that soon thereafter on the 22nd March 1960 the Respondent was promoted and assumed charge of his office. After this promotion the State Government rejected the appeal earlier filed by the Respondent 4 against his supersession. Thereafter the Government on 22-1-63 confirmed Prakash Chand as Deputy Superintendent with effect from 24-12-60. Jaswant Singh, Gurcharan Dass Vaid the Appellant and Hem Raj were confirmed on March 1, 1962 and Santokh Singh with effect from July 17, 1952. By another notification dated 19-1-65 the remaining six officiating Deputy Superintendents including Respondent 4 were confirmed in their appointment with effect from January 13, 1963, in the existing vacancies. The Inspector General of Police in the return filed by him explained that the approval of the Public Service Commission in respect of the four officials P