Judgement

RANGANATH MISRA, J. :- The petitioner in the writ application as also the appellants in the appeal were erstwhile Sergeants in the police service of the State of Bihar and are now designated as Reserve Sub-Inspectors. Admittedly, the Police Manual of 1930 framed under the Police Act of 1861 contained the relevant rules applicable to the police force. Under that Manual, there used to be a cadre called Sergeants who were recruited directly and were eligible for promotion to the rank of Sergeant-Major. There used to be another category known as Havildars who were eligible for promotion as Jamadars. In 1978, a new Police Manual was introduced replacing the old Manual. Under R. 639 of this Manual, the State Police Force is grouped into the following categories

"SUPERIOR OFFICERS

1. The Inspector General

2. Additional Inspector General

3. Deputy Inspector General

4. Superintendents

5. Assistant Superintendents

6. Deputy Superintendents

7. Reserve Inspectors and other Inspectors

OTHER OFFICERS

8. Reserve Sub-Inspectors

9. Sub-Inspectors

10. Assistant Sub-Inspectors

11. Havildars

12. Naiks

13. Constables.

Note : Reserve Inspectors and Reserve Sub-Inspectors were previously called as Sergeant-Majors and Sergeants respectively."

According to the scheme of the 1978 Manual 50 per cent of the posts of Reserve Sub-Inspectors (excluding Reserve Sub-Inspectors - Transport) has to be filled up by promotion from the rank of Havildars and the remaining 50 per cent is reserved for direct recruitment. Though the Police Manual is intended to cover the entire field of the State Police Force (except the Bihar Armed Police which is an establishment constituted under a separate statute) and Jamadars are not known to the police ranks. The High Court has found, and there is no dispute before us, that more than a thousand Jamadars are still in service in the regular police establishment. We have been told at the Bar that the nomenclature of Jamadar is still correct as a category of police officers under the Bihar Armed Police Act but in these cases, we are not concerned with Jamadars of the Armed Police Act.

2. The State Government of Bihar created 118 posts of Subedars in August, 1979 and directed that Sergeants who by then had come to be known as Reserve Sub-Inspectors under the 1978 Manual would not be eligible for consideration for promotion to these posts of Subedars. There is no serious dispute that conditions of service of the Subedars are same as that of the Inspectors. Petitioners who are now Reserve Sub-Inspectors contend that they are eligible for promotion and the order excluding them from consideration is bad and violative of the equality contemplated under Art. 16 of the Constitution.

3. These cases have a chequered career but it is unnecessary to refer to it.

4. We are satisfied, after hearing learned counsel, that though under the Police Manual Jamadars are not shown as a category of police officers they have continued to be in service and at present their number exceeds a thousand. Since under the Police Manual, Havildars belong to the class of "Other Officers" and there is a promotional avenue available to Havildars, there is no longer any necessity of promoting Havildars as Jamadars. That, however, would not meet the requirements of the present situation. Since there are about a thousand Jamadars still in service and there was no promotional avenue for officers in that rank, the Government has created these 118 posts of Subedars in the rank of Inspectors to provide a promotional avenue for that category. Mr. Jai Narain, learned counsel for the State, has contended that it is not seriously opposed that Jamadars being promotees from out of Havildars ordinarily do not have higher qualification as possessed by Sergeants (now Reserve Sub-Inspectors.) It is true, as contended by Mr. Gopal Subramanian for the appellants, that once there is a merger and Jamadars and Sergeants have become fixed into the common category of Reserve Sub-Inspectors, the promo