Judgment

VENKATARAMIAH, J.:- This appeal by special leave is filed against the judgment and order of the High Court of Allahabad dated April 12, 1985 in Writ Petition No. 3961 of 1982 by which the High Court of Allahabad quashed the results of the competitive examination held by the District Judge of Kanpur in September, 1981 for selecting candidates for appointment to the vacancies in Grade III of the ministerial staff in the Subordinate Courts in the District of Kanpur.

2. Before the commencement of the Constitution, recruitment to the ministerial establishment in the Subordinate Civil Courts of the United Provinces was regulated by the Subordinate Civil Courts Ministerial Establishment Rules, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the 1947 Rules). The said Rules were promulgated by the Governor of the United Provinces on August 1, 1947. The expression Ministerial Establishment was defined by R. 2(c) of the 1947 Rules as the staff of the Subordinate Civil Courts consisting of ministerial servants as defined in Fundamental Rule (17), Financial Handbook, Vol. II, Part II. According to the definition given in R. 2(e) of the 1947 Rules the expression Subordinate Civil Courts included the Courts of District and Sessions Judge, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Civil and Sessions Judges, Civil Judges, Additional Civil Judges, Munsifs, Additional Munsifs and Courts of Small Causes subordinate to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad or the Chief Court of Oudh at Lucknow. R. 5 of the 1947 Rules prescribed the academic qualifications which a. person should possess for being a candidate to a post in the ministerial establishment. It reads as follows :

"5. Academic qualifications - No person who is not already on the staff attached to a subordinate civil court shall be appointed to a post in the ministerial establishment unless;

(a) he has passed at least the High School examination conducted by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, United Provinces or any other examination which has been or may be declared by the Governor to be equivalent thereto;

(b) he possesses a thorough knowledge both of Urdu and Hindi;

(c) he possesses in the case of a candidate for the post of stenographer a diploma or certificate from a University or a recognised shorthand and typewriting institution, showing that he possesses a speed of at least 100 words in shorthand and 35 words per minute in typewriting."

3. Rule 11 of the 1947 Rules which is relevant for the purposes of this case reads as follows :-

"11. The recruitment shall be based on the results of a competitive examination, and an interview by the District Judge at the headquarters of the judgeship. The examination and the interview shall be held in the manner laid down in Appendix II.

Provided that the District Judge may delegate any one or more of the functions other than the function of interviewing the candidates to a senior civil judge or senior munsif in respect of the examination held under this rule."

4. Appendix II of the 1947 Rules which contain the details regarding the manner in which the competitive examination was to be held read thus :-

"APPENDIX II

(VIDE RULE 11)

The examination shall be in three parts

(1) Compulsory subjects 350 marks Total

(2) Optional subjects 50 marks 500

(3) Interview 100 marks

Compulsory subjects shall be -

(a) Translation from English into Urdu} Total

(b) Translation from English into Hindi} 200

(c) Translation from Urdu into English}

(d) Translation from Hindi into English}

(e) Precis writing 50

(f) Dictation 100

Optional subjects -

Shorthand and typewriting 50

In the optional subjects no marks shall be awarded to any candidate who does not reach the minimum standard required in the note to R. 14.

Any clerk who is already on the establishment and is not qualified as a stenographer may sit for the examination in typewriting and shorthand alone and will be eligible for appointment as stenographer if he qualifies."

5. By virtue of the provisions of Article 31