Judgment

BEG, C.J.I. - This is a petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution praying for a writ of certiorari, or a writ of mandamus, or, any other appropriate writ, order or direction for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the petitioners under Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The petitioners have been working as Upper Division Clerks and pray for the quashing of a list, issued with Office Memorandum dated 7-2-1972, for making promotions to the next grade of Assistants on which the names of respondents 4 to 203 appear but not those of the petitioners. They claim that the principle of seniority, contained in the Ministry of Home Affairs D. M. dated 22-6-1949, as interpreted by this Court in Union of India v. M. Ravi Verma, (1972) 2 SCR 992 had not been applied to them. The contention seems to be that the last mentioned decision contained an invariable mechanical rule of seniority applicable to all classes of services so that nothing beyond length of service in a particular grade could determine seniority. It was alleged that the impugned list was formulated in an arbitrary fashion. Hence, the petitioners complain of violation of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

2. In