JUDGMENT

JASWANT SINGH, J. :—This appeal by certificate granted by the High Court of Judicature at Patna under Art. 133 (1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution is directed against the judgment and order dated May 13, 1969 of that court whereby Civil Writ Petition No. 460 of 1968 filed by respondents 3 to 28 herein was allowed, Notification no. SS/A1-103/68/2676/EB dated June 24, 1968 issued by the Bihar State Electricity Board, respondent No. 2, appointing the appellant as officiating temporary Executive Engineer (Tele-Communication), Tele-Communication Division, Patna, was quashed and a writ of mandamus commanding respondent No. 2 to fill up the post of the Executive Engineer (Tele-Communication) after considering the case of respondents 3 to 28 and specially of respondents 3 and 4 along with the case of the appellant or with the case of any other Assistant Engineer whose case in the opinion of the Board may be fit to be considered in the light of the said judgment was issued.

2. The circumstances giving rise to this appeal lie in a short compass. It appears that the appellant who passed the final examination of Bachelor of Science (Engineering) in Tele-Communication of the Ranchi University held in August, 1962 was appointed by the Bihar State Electricity Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board) as Assistant Engineer (Tele-Communication) in September, 1963 on a salary of Rs. 245/- per month in the pay scale of Rs. 220 -25-320-EB-25-670-EB-30-750. A few weeks after his recruitment, the appellant was sent by the Board to the headquarters of Messrs. Brown Boveri and Company Limited, Baden, Switzerland for six months specialized training in power line carrier, telemetering and tele-control equipment in the modern power system. On his return from Switzerland and resumption by him of his duty as Assistant Engineer (Tele-Communication) the appellant was deputed to look after the entire tele-communication system of the Board. In June, 1968, the Board left the necessity of maintenance of efficient communication service between the vital centres of generation, utilization and administration for ensuring reliability and continuity in power supply which would facilitate quick supervision and checking of the then existing arrangements at the generating station, receiving sub-stations and distributing areas as also the necessity of proper supervision and handling by trained and qualified personnel of a large number of wave-change-over communication equipments on 33 KW Transmission line which had been installed in the Tele-Communication Sub-Division of the Board at Patna and were maintained and aligned with the help of special electronic instruments. Accordingly, the Board accorded sanction to the creation of a temporary Tele-Communication Division with headquarters at Patna as also to the creation of a temporary post of Executive Engineer (Tele-Communication) in the replacement scale of pay of Rs. 730-35-870-40-1070-EB-45-1250 for the said Tele-Communication Division with effect from June 22, 1968 to February 28, 1969. Acting on the recommendation of its expert selection committee to the effect that the appellant was fit to be promoted to the rank of the Executive Engineer (Tele-Communication) in view of the fact that he had a consistently good record of service, possessed the degree in Tele-Communication Engineering, had undergone special training in Switzerland in Tele-Communication, had ever since his return from Switzerland been satisfactorily performing the onerous and complex duties assigned to him and had been looking after the entire Tele-Communication system of the Board and had thus acquired a valuable practical experience in that field which was necessary to man the post of Executive Engineer (Tele-Communication) and that the Assistant Electrical Engineers of 1960 batch were being considered for promotion as Electrical Executive Engineers, the Board issued the aforesaid notification temporarily promoting the appellant to the po