Judgment

P. K. GOSWAMI, J. - The petitioners are Assistants in Grade IV (Class II Non-gazetted) of the Central Secretariat Service (briefly the Service) and have been working in the various Ministries of the Government of India. They were appointed as Assistants during the period between 1944 and1954. Their next promotional post is now that of Section Officer (Class II, Gazetted). They have raised in this Writ Petition the question of their seniority and challenged the validity of the Office Memorandum of 7th September, 1971, issued by the first Respondent fixing zones for promotion to the grade of Section Officer on the basis of ranks assigned in the Civil List of 1962 for the grade of Assistant on the ground of being in contravention of the Office Memorandum of June 22, 1949, of the Ministry of Home Affairs. They also challenge the validity of Rule 18 (1) of the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 1962 (briefly the Rules) in so far as it is construed to protect the seniority determined prior to the commencement of the said Rules in violation of the Office Memorandum of June 22, 1949. The petitioners allege that the Government have not followed any consistent principle or rule in re