Judgment

BHAGWATI, J. :- The short question that arises for determination in this petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution lies in a very narrow compass, but in order to arrive at its proper determination it is necessary to state the facts giving rise to the petition in some detail.

2. Prior to the reorganisation of the States, which took place on 1st November, 1955 by virtue of the provisions of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the petitioners were confirmed Tehsildars in the quondam State of Hyderabad which was then a Part B State. The Rules of recruitment to the posts of Tehsildar which prevailed in the erstwhile State of Hyderabad provided that 1/3rd of the number of posts shall be filled by promotion from the lower ranks while the remaining 2/3rd shall be filled by direct recruitment on the basis of the result of competitive examination. The petitioners belonged to the latter category of directly recruited Tehsildars. The next higher cadre above that of Tehsildars was the cadre of the Deputy Collectors and recruitment to that cadre was governed by a notification issued by the Rajpramukh of Hyderabad State on the 15th September, 1955. This notification provided that all the vacancies of the cadre of Deputy Collectors shall be filled "only by promotion by selection from the cadre of Tehsildars. It was common ground between the parties that both the cadres of Tehsildars as well as Deputy Collectors were state cadres.

3. On 31st August, 1956 the Parliament enacted the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and that Act brought about reorganisation of almost all the States in India with effect from the appointed day, namely, 1st November, 1956. The fasciculus of sections in Part II of the Act altered the territories of the existing States of Madras and Andhra Pradesh and brought into being various other new States. We are concerned here only with the formation of the new State of Bombay and we will, therefore, confine our attention to that Section 8 constituted a new State Bombay with territories drawn from various existing States, namely, Bombay, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra and Kutch. The old State of Bombay ceased to exist and a new State of Bombay with considerably enlarged territories came into being. Since the new State of Bombay comprised territories coming from different existing States, that was naturally bound to give rise to new and complex problems of administration, particularly in the context of increased tempo of developmental activities including land reform measures and the necessity of integrating the services, introducing a unified pattern of administration and unifying the laws in the different territories brought together to form the new State of Bombay. The Government of Bombay, therefore, issued a Resolution, dated 1st November, 1956, dividing the territories of the new State into six divisions and placing each Division in the charge of a Divisional Officer. The territories of former Saurashtra and Kutch States were grouped together in Rajkot Division, the territories drawn from the former Bombay State, save the District of East Khandesh, in Ahmedabad, Bombay and Poona Divisions, the territories drawn from the former State of Madhya Pradesh in Nagpur Division and the territories drawn from the former Hyderabad State with the addition of East Khandesh District in Aurangabad Division. Since the service personnel from these different territories came to be allocated to the new State of Bombay, they had all to be fitted in to form a compact and homogeneous service, and it was, therefore, necessary to decide where and at what place they should be adjusted in the constitution of the new service. This process necessarily involved equation of posts, absorption of service personnel in the equated posts and determination of inter se seniority. The Government of Bombay, therefore, made The Allocated Government Servants (Absorption, Seniority, Pay and Allowances) Rules, 1957, which we shall hereafter, for th