Judgment

SEN, J.:- These two appeals by special leave, directed against the judgment of the Allahabad High Court dated May 12, 1969, raise common questions and therefore, are disposed of by this common judgment.

2. By separate notifications issued under Section 3 of the U. P. Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959, the State Government constituted Municipal Corporations in five cities in the State, namely Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow w.e.f. February 1, 1960.

3. The appellant in the present appeal, Mohd. Rashid Ahmad was a permanent Assistant Engineer in the Development Board, Kanpur, constituted under the Cawnpore Urban Area Development Act, 1945. In 1953, an Administrator was appointed of both the Development Board and the Municipal Board, Kanpur, constituted under the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916, under the U. P. Local Bodies (Appointment of Administrators) Act, 1953. The two local bodies, however, continued to have separate legal existence and their officers and servants continued as the employees of the respective bodies. The appellant Mohd. Rashid Ahmad was appointed as Officiating Executive Engineer by the Administrator of the Municipal Corporation, Kanpur, for a period of one year on September 12, 1960. He has since then continued to function in the same capacity, on a purely temporary arrangement under S. 577 (ee), that is, for so long as no substantive appointment could be made to that post under Section 106. The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission, however, considered that he was not fit for appointment for the post of the Executive Engineer, Municipal Corporation, Kanpur.

4. The appellant in the connected appeal, Ashfaq Hussain was a permanent Sanitary Inspector in the Municipal Board,Kanpur. After the constitution of the Municipal Corporation, Kanpur, he continued to hold that post under Section 577 (e). On July 24, 1967, he was transferred in the same capacity to the Municipal Corporation, Allahabad, where he was promoted temporarily as an Assistant Engineer. He, therefore, stood provisionally absorbed under S. 577 (e).

5. Both the U. P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959, and the U. P. Municipalities Act, 1916 empowered these local bodies to appoint their employees subject to certain regulatory control by the State Government. By S. 12 of the U. P. Nagar Mahapalika (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 1964, the State Legislature added S. 112-A to the U. P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959. Similarly, by S. 37 of the U. P. Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 1964, S. 69-B was added to the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916, which was identical in terms of S. 112-A. Section 112-A of the Adhiniyam empowered the State Government to provide by rules for the creation of one or more services to be known as Centralised Palika Services, as it may deem fit and proper, common to all the Municipal Corporations and Municipal Boards, and prescribes the method for recruitment and conditions of services of persons appointed to any such service.

6. Section 112-A of the U. P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959, enacts:

"112-A. Centralization of services - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sections 106 to 110, the State Government may at any time by rules provide for the creation of one or more services of such officers and servants as the State Government may deem fit, common to the Mahapalikas or to the Mahapalikas and Municipal Boards, of the State, and prescribe the method of recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to any such service.

(2) When any such service is created, officers and servants serving on the posts included in the service, as well as officers and servants performing the duties and functions of those posts under sub-clause (1) of clause (ee) of Sec. 577 may, if found suitable, be absorbed in the service, provisionally or finally, and the services of others shall stand determined, in the prescribed manner.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2), such rules may als