JUDGMENT

SABYASACHI MUKHARJI, J. :— In the Reserve Bank of India separate departmentwise and groupwise seniority and promotion for cadres of Officers and non-Officers (Award Staff) was prevalent. This would be apparent from the decision of this Court in Reserve Bank of India v. N. C. Paliwal, (1977) 1 SCR 377 as well as V. T. Khanzode v. Reserve Bank of India, (1982) 2 SCC 7.

2. In September, 1962, need was felt for maintenance of combined seniority list at each centre for the purposes of promotions recommended by National Industrial Tribunal presided over by Mr. Justice K. T. Desai. The recommendations of the said Desai Award for centre-wise combined seniority were approved by this Court in 1966. See in this connection the observations in All India Reserve Bank Employees Association v. Reserve Bank of India (1966) 1 SCR 25 at p. 57 and Reserve Bank of India v. N. C. Paliwal (supra).

3. In 1970, the supervisory Staff in Class I was upgraded to Staff Officers in Class I pursuant to the Memorandum of Settlement dated 9th January, 1970 between the Bank and the All India Supervisory Staff Association, subject to certain conditions.

4. Administrative Circular No. 20 dated 6th June, 1970 wa