Judgment

A. P. SEN, J.:- This appeal by special leave raises a question as to whether the appellant upon his transfer from the North-Eastern Railway at his own request, to the South-Eastern Railway was entitled under R. 312 of the Railway Establishment Manual, to be placed in the seniority fist below the existing confirmed and officiating staff in the relevant grade and not below the temporary staff.

2. Put very shortly, the essential facts are these. The appellant was holding the substantive post of a Clerk in the Commercial Department of the North-Eastern Railway w.e.f. May 22, 1956 and had applied for his transfer to the South-Eastern Railway in the same post. On Oct. 15, 1958, he was transferred from the North-Eastern Railway, at his own request, to the South-Eastern Railway and was posted at the Sealdah Division on his existing pay and scale against an existing vacancy. In 1967, the seniority fist of the Clerks in the Sealdah Division was prepared by the South-Eastern Railway and in that fist the appellant was placed below the temporary staff. Immediately upon his being placed below the temporary staff, the appellant made two representations, one dated March 4, 1967 and the othe