Judgment

JASWANT SINGH, J. :- This judgment shall dispose of Appeals Nos. 883 and 898 to 905 of 1975 which are directed against the common judgment dated February 20, 1975 of the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore dismissing Writ Petitions Nos. 5825, 5818, 5820, 5822 to 5824, 5828 and 5829 of 1974 on ground that the appellants had no right to maintain the same.

2. The circumstances leading to these appeals are : The appellants held the posts of Shambogues on hereditary basis under the Mysore Village Offices Act, 1908. In writ petition No. 133 of 1959 entitled Gazula Dasaratha Rama Rao v. State of A. P., (1961) 2 SCR 931 decided on December 6, 1960, this Court held that a law which recognised the custom by which a preferential right to an office vested in the members of a particular family was not consistent with the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 16 of the Constitution; that a custom which is recognised by law with regard to a hereditary office must yield to a fundamental right and Section 6 (1) of the Madras Hereditary Village Offices Act III of 1895 in so far as it made discrimination on the ground of descent only was violative of the fundamental right under Article 16 (2) of the Constitution and was void. With a view to giving effect to the principle settled by this decision, the Legislature of the then State of Mysore comprising the territories of the erstwhile States of Mysore and Coorg and certain parts of the erstwhile States of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras enacted the Mysore Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961 (Act XIV of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the Abolition Act) abolishing all the hereditary village offices including the office of shambogue or village Accountant created under the Mysore Village Offices Act, 1908. Pursuant to sub-section (3) of S. 1 which authorised the State Government to fix a date for the commencement of the Act, the Government of Mysore issued a notification on January 9, 1963 notifying that the Abolition Act would come into force with effect from February 1, 1963.

3. Shortly after the according of the assent to the Abolition Act by the President on July 8, 1961, the Governor of Mysore framed rules called the Mysore General Service (Revenue Subordinate Branch) Village Accountants (Cadre and Recruitment) Rules, 1961 in exercise of the powers vested in him under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution and other powers enabling him in that behalf. These Rules, as evident from their title, were designed to regulate the recruitment, pay and other conditions of service of Village Accountants. Rule 10 of the 1961 Rules which was in the nature of a non obstante provision provided for the initial recruitment to the posts of Village Accountants to be made from amongst persons holding the posts of village officers on the date of commencement of those Rules provided that such persons had passed the S. S. L. C. examination or an equivalent examination and their age did not exceed 40 years on the said date. By a proviso which was introduced in the year, 1963, it was provided that in the event of persons satisfying the qualifications mentioned in Rule 7 not being available even after the vacancies are twice advertised, the recruitment should be made from amongst persons holding the posts of village officers who were not more than 50 years of age on the date of commencement of the said Rules and who had passed the Lower Secondary or Vernacular Final or equivalent examination.

4. By a notification issued on January 6, 1963, the Government of Mysore directed the Deputy Commissioners to appoint persons recruited under the 1961 Rules as village accountants and relieve the then holders of their offices. On the issue of the aforesaid notification dated January 9, 1963, a number of writ petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution were filed in the High Court challenging the legality and constitutional validity of the Abolition Act on the ground that it was a piece of colourable legislation. Duri