JUDGMENT

BALAKRSHNA ERADI, J.:— The second world war left in its wake conditions of scarcity of foodgrains and other essential commodities in different parts of the country. To tide over that situation and with intent to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the available supply of foodgrains etc., schemes of rationing of goodgrains were periodically introduced in the different States in the country.

2. In the State of Bombay, an informal (non-statutory) scheme of rationing was introduced in November, 1957 and for administering the said scheme, an ad hoc Organisation was set up under the Controller of Foodgrains Distribution. Since this Organisation (hereinafter referred to as CFD) was intend to be only a temporary and short-term set up, no recruitment rules were framed for appointment to the various categories of posts created therein. The CFD was manned principally by (1) personnel who had been working in the temporary Civil Supplies Department created during the second world war period and who were attending to certain residual duties concerned with the winding up of that department, (2) persons taken on deputation from other Government departments, (3) retrenched former Civil Supply Department personnel, and (4) persons directly recruited to the CFD by the Controller of Foodgrains Distribution on temporary basis through the Employment Exchange. Since no rules had been framed laying down the qualifications or method of recruitment to the various posts, the guiding factor which seems to have weighed with the authorities in effecting appointments in the CFD was the suitability of the person concerned to carry out the duties attached to a particular post irrespective of qualifications, age, etc. Admittedly, amongst the persons appointed to the CFD, there were several non-matriculates who were ineligible under the prevailing rules applicable to other Government Departments for regular appointment into the Government service in the clerical category and also quite a few persons who were over-aged for being entertained in the Government service as on the dates of their ad hoc appointments into the CFD.

3. The principles to be observed for fixing the seniority of the personnel appointed to the CFD were laid down by the State Government by a Resolution dated April 1, 1963. Under the said Resolution, the seniority of personnel in each category was to be determined with reference to the date of first appointment in the particular cadre in which they were initially appointed in the CFD.

4. In July 1965, the Government of India issued instructions to all the State Governments advising them to start statutory rationing schemes in metropolitan areas and big towns. With a view to implement those instructions of the Central Government, the State Government of Maharashtra sanctioned on October 21, 1965 a skeleton staff for working out details and carrying out other preliminary work for the introduction of a scheme of statutory rationing in Greater Bombay.

5. Subsequently, by a Resolution dated February 11, 1966, the Government of Maharashtra announced its decision to introduce a statutory rationing scheme in Bombay and the industrial Complex around it including some areas of Thana District and to set up an organisation under the Controller of Rationing, Bombay, for efficiently administering the said statutory scheme. The strength and pattern of the staff for the Bombay Rationing Organisation (for short, the BRO) which was newly created under the said Resolution was to be as shown in Annexure A appended to the Resolution. The skeleton staff which had been already sanctioned for carrying out the preliminary work as per the prior Government Resolution dated Oct. 21, 1965 was to be treated as belonging to the BRO. The existing staff of the CFD consisting of 884 posts as shown in Annexure B to the aforesaid Resolution was to be merged into the new BRO with effect from Mar. 1, 1966, excepting 9 posts of part-time Mehtars, which were to be aboli