Judgment

RANGANATH MISRA, J. - This appeal is by special leave and is directed against the appellate judgment of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court upholding the rejection of the writ petition by a single Judge of that High Court. Appellants are engineers in the establishment of the Chief Engineer (Road and Building) of the Andhra Pradesh Government and the dispute is one of inter se seniority between them on the one side and respondents 3 and 4 on the other.

2. Appellants filed a Writ Petition being No. 4151 of 1972 in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh claiming a direction to the State Government for considering them for promotion to the post of Executive Engineer on the basis that they were senior to five promotee Assistant Engineers. A learned single Judge disposed of the said writ petition by judgment dated 29th March, 1973, and gave the following directions.

"The respondents 1 and 2 (State of Andhra Pradesh and its Chief Engineer respectively) will, therefore, consider the claims of the petitioners for promotion as Executive Engineers having regard to their seniority in the cadre of Assistant Engineers in relation to the seniority of respondents 3 to 7. I, therefore, direct respondents 1 and 2 to take the seniority of the petitioners, who were full members of service, in relation to the seniority of respondents 3 to 7 in the cadre of Assistant Engineers and consider the case of the petitioners for promotion to the posts of Executive Engineers in accordance with the rules."

The State Government, in compliance with the directions issued to it, by order dated 10th August, 1983, made an order stating :-

"As per Rule 5 of the said Special Rules, for promotion to the post of Executive Engineers (Ordinary Grade) a Graduate Assistant Engineer should be :

a) a full member or approved probationer;

b) a-direct recruit should put in six years service as Assistant Engineer; and

c) a promotee Assistant Engineer should put in five years service.

No preference is provided for persons, who were either direct recruit Assistant Engineers or who secured earlier confirmation. In the absence of specific provision in the Special Rules for giving any preference to direct recruit Assistant Engineers in the matter of promotion to the category of Executive Engineers, only the provisions of General Rules for State and Subordinate Services have to be applied therefor. According to R. 33(a) of General Rules for Andhra Pradesh State and Subordinate Services, the seniority of a person in a service, class, category or grade, shall, unless he has been reduced to a lower rank as a punishment, be determined by the date of first appointment to such service, class, category or grade. So, the seniority of the writ petitioners and the respondents has to be considered with reference to their dates of regular appointment to the category of Assistant Engineers (R & B) but not from the date of confirmation in the said category, for purpose of promotion as Executive Engineers. The dates of commencement of probation of the respondents and writ petitioners is as indicated below :-

Sl.No. Name of the Asstt. Engineer Date of commencement of probation

Respondents

1. Sh. B.V. Venkataramana 19-5-1961

2. Sh. C.M. Ramachandramurthy 19-5-1961

Writ Petitioners

1. Sh. Desoola Rama Rao 18-7-1966

2. Sh. V. Murahari Reddy 30-6-1966

(Names of the three others stated in the order are not extracted as are not relevant)

Thus the respondents commenced their probation between 1959 to 1963 while the writ petitioners commenced their probation in 1966 and their seniority is far below the respondents.

The Government, after careful examination of the judgment of the High Court, with reference to the statutory rules and in relation to the seniority obtaining between the respondents and the writ petitioners, decide that the turn of the two writ petitioners for promotion has not yet come and that their claims shall be considered for promotion as Executive Engineers (Ordinary Grade) in their t