JUDGMENT

BALAKRISHNA ERADI, J.:— This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court dismissing in limine a Letters Patent Appeal filed by the present appellant against the judgment of a learned Single Judge of that Court whereby the contentions raised by the appellant in Civil Writ Petn. No. 1423 of 1979 were rejected and the said writ petition was dismissed.

2. The appellant -- Wing Commander J. Kumar - was commissioned in the Indian Air Force on September 3 1956 with ante-dated seniority from December 10, 1955. He was permanently seconded to the Defence Research Development and Inspection Organisation (for short, the LRD&/I Organisation) of the Ministry of Defence on October 14, 1971, On the bifurcation of the LRD&I Organisation effected in July 1976 by the separation of the Inspection Wing,the appellant was retained in the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which will hereinafter be referred to as the R&D Organisation. The Director-General of Defence Research and Development, who is also the Secretary to Government of India, Defence Research, is the controlling authority of the R&D cadre. The said cadre has servic