Judgment

H . R. KHANNA, J. :- This is a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India by Malcom Lawrence Cecil D souza. Additional Commissioner of Income-tax for an appropriate writ to quash the seniority list of the Additional Commissioners of Income-tax as on February 1, 1971 circulated by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance. The petitioner claims that he is senior to respondents 4 to 26, but in the impugned list he is shown junior to those respondents. Prayer has also been made by the petitioner for other consequential reliefs. Apart from respondents 4 to 26. the petitioner has impleaded the Union of India, the Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue and the Chairman,Central Board of Direct Taxes as respondents1 to 3.

2. The petitioner served in the Royal Navy as a Sublieutenant from March 1945 till November 1946 when he was released from the naval service because of the end of war. On July 1,1947 the petitioner was appointed Income-tax Officer Class II. On August 12, 1949 the Petitioner was appointed Income-tax Officer Class I Grade II in post-1945 vacancy reserved for candidates with war service. On January 24, 1950 a seniority list of Income-tax Officers Class I Grade II as on January 1. 1950 was issued on the basis of 1947 Seniority Rules. The petitioner was shown in that list senior to respondents 4 to 26. The same position was reflected in a seniority list issued in 1953. The petitioner was promoted as Income-tax officer Class I Grade I with effect from January 1, 1951 and confirmed in that post from the said date,

3. According to 1947 Rules, the seniority of candidates inter se appointed to post-1945 vacancies was to be determined by age irrespective of the category from which they were recruited. The Rules of 1947 were revised and in super-session of them 1952 Seniority Rules were issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. According, inter alia, to 1952 Seniority Rules, the break in service was not to be taken into account for determining the seniority of persons confirmed against post-1945 war reserved vacancies. The Income-tax Department took some time to revise the seniority list of Income-tax officers class I in accordance with 1952 Seniority Rules and finally on November 26, 1956 the revised seniority list of Income-tax, Officers Class I Grade I as on October, 1, 1956 was issued. In this list respondents 4 to 26 were shown senior to the petitioner and were entitled to be promoted to higher posts earlier than the petitioner. Another seniority list of Assistant Commissioners was issued as on January 1, 1958. This list was in accordance with the earlier list of Income-tax Officers as on October 1, 1956 showing the petitioner to be junior to respondents 4 to 26 . It may be stated that by this time the petitioner and respondents 4 to 26 had all been promoted Assistant Commissioners.

4. The seniority list of Income-tax Assistant Commissioners as on August 1, 1965 was challenged by Assistant Commissioner Vasant Javaram Karnik in Gujarat High Court by means of a writ petition filed in 1967. The High Court allowed that petition and issued a writ quashing the seniority list as on August 1, 1965 in so far as that list showed several officers senior to Karnik and another officer B. S. Nadkarni. The High Court gave its own interpretation of the 1952 Seniority Rules. An appeal was filed in this Court on behalf of the Union of India against the above judgment of the Gujarat High Court in 1969. This Court as per judgment D/- 7-9-1970 reported in 78 ITR 243 dismissed that appeal. This Court held that the following principles emerge from 1952 Rules for determining the seniority :

"(i) Between Income-tax Officers promoted at the same meeting, their seniority inter se will be reflected in the list of Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax:

(ii) Between an officer promoted earlier and another officer senior to him, but who was not considered in the meeting when the former was promoted, seniority in the list of