Judgment

KOSHAL, J.:- By this judgement we shall dispose of 42 appeals by special leave, namely, Civil Appeals Nos. 2329 to 2370 of 1977, all of which are directed against a judgement dated the 30th November, 1976 of a Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka. Civil Appeals Nos. 2329 and 2351 to 2370 of 1977 have been filed by different persons who were appointed Assistant Engineers in the Karnataka State on 31st October, 1961, by way of direct recruitment while the other 21 appeals have been filed by that State.

2. The facts giving rise to the impugned judgement may be set down in some detail. A new State came into existence on the 1st of November, 1956 as a result of integration of the areas which formed part of the erstwhile States of Mysore, Madras, Coorg, Bombay and Hyderabad (hereinafter referred to as the Merged States). It was then given the name of one of its constituents namely, the State of Mysore, which was later changed to that of the Karnataka State. In the Public Works Departments of the Merged States there was a class of non-gazetted officers ranking below Assistant Engineers. The class was designated as Graduate Supervisor in the Merged State of Mysore, as Junior Engineers in the Merged State of Madras and as Supervisors in the Merged States of Hyderabad and Bombay. The Graduate Supervisors were paid a fixed salary of Rupees 225/- per mensem which was lower by Rs. 25/- per mensem as compared to the starting salary of Assistant Engineers, who, in the normal course, were expected to head sub-divisions. To the post of Assistant Engineers a Graduate Supervisor was appointed only on promotion.

Prior to the 1st of November, 1956, quite a few Graduate Supervisors were given charge of sub-divisions and designated as Sub-Divisional Officers in order to meet the exigencies of service and they continued to act as such after the merger when they claimed equation of their posts with those of Assistant Engineers in the matter of integration of services. To begin with their claim was turned down by the Central Government who equated the posts of Graduate Supervisors with the posts of Junior Engineers of the Merged State of Madras and the posts of Supervisors of the Merged States of Hyderabad and Bombay.

By a notification dated the 6th of February, 1958, the Government of Karnataka (then known as the Government of Mysore) promulgated the Mysore Government Servants (Probation) Rules, 1957 (hereinafter called the Probation Rules) and on the next day came into force the Mysore Government Servants (Seniority) Rules, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the Seniority Rules), both having been framed under Article 309 of the Constitution of India.

On the 1st of October, 1958, the Karnataka Public Service Commission invited applications from candidates for appointment to the posts of Assistant Engineers by direct recruitment.

In the meantime Graduate Supervisors and Government employees holding equivalent posts had continued to press their claim for the equation of their posts with the posts of Assistant Engineers and they succeeded partially when, on the 15th of November, 1958, the Karnataka Government promoted 167 of them (including 107 Graduate Supervisors who had been working as such is the Merged State of Mysore) as officiating Assistant Engineers with immediate effect. The promotion was notified in the State Gazette dated the 20th of November, 1958 (Exhibit A) the relavant portion where of may be reproduced for facility of reference:

".....The following supervisors of Public Works Department are promoted as officiating Assistant Engineers with immediate effect and until further orders against the existing vacancies subject to review after the finalisation of the Inter-State Seniority List of Supervisors and the Cadre and Recruitment Rules of Public Works Department. The promotion of officers from Sl. No. 74 to 167 against existing vacancies will be purely on a temporary basis pending filling up of the vacancies by Direct Recruitment