JUDGMENT

RAY,J.:— The only question that arises for decision in this appeal is whether an employee promoted to a post reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is entitled to have his seniority determined from the date of his appointment to the post or his seniority inter se will be reckoned as it was in the class or grade from which he was promoted to a post in a higher rank.

2. The appellant, who is a Scheduled Caste joined service as a Clerk in the Electricity Branch of the Punjab Public Works Department on February 20, 1954. The terms and conditions of his service were governed by the Punjab P.W.D. (Electricity Branch) Provincial Service Class-III (Subordinate Posts) Rules, 1952. In February, 1959 the Punjab State Electricity Board was constituted under Section 3 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 and the employees of the Electricity Branch were transferred to the Board. The conditions of service of the employees were governed by their existing terms and conditions as well as existing service Rules. In 1967 the Haryana State Electricity Board was constituted and the appellant was allocated to the Haryana State Electricity Board with existing terms and conditions of service. The Board being a statutory corporation was requested by letter dated December 13, 1972 by the Government to provide for reservation of 22% of vacancies - initial recruitment and promotion posts being filled up by members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as well as by members of backward classes. The Haryana State Electricity Board adopted the above circular by its Resolution dated March 10, 1976 providing for reservation of posts both for initial recruitment as well as for promotion. The appellant was promoted on September 25, 1973 as Deputy Superintendent. The respondent No. 2 Rajinder Singh Marya was also promoted by the same order as Deputy Superintendent. In the said order of appointment the following note was appended :-

"The earlier promotion of the above officials as Deputy Superintendent, will not confer upon them any right to claim seniority over those who may otherwise be senior to them due to any reason whatsoever."

3. On April 27,1972 a circular was issued by the Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana to all its departments regarding reservation for members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in service and fixation of seniority. Paragraphs 2 and 4 of the said circular which are relevant are quoted hereinbelow :-

"2. It has to be pointed out that this was irregular and inter se seniority of all the candidates taken together (i.e. whether appointed against reserved vacancies or against open ones) must be fixed according to the combined merit list and not otherwise. Vacancies assigned to Scheduled Castes/Backward Classes under block system are so assigned for the purposes of reservation only and are not intended for fixing inter se seniority of the candidates contrary to their order in the combined merit list prepared by the Public Service Commission/Subordinate Service Selection Board.

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4. The above instructions, regarding determination of inter se seniority will, however, apply only in those cases where the departmental service rules do not provide for seniority being determined from the date of joining or from the date of confirmation or by a method otherwise than the merit determined by the Public Service Commission/S. S. S. Board. In other words, in all cases where the service rules have not yet been framed, or where the service rules provide for seniority being determined according to the merit laid down by the Commissioner/S. S. S. Board, the seniority of the officials shall be determined in the manner stated above. In other cases, where the service rules specifically provide for seniority being determined from the date of joining or from the date of confirmation by the recruiting authority the seniority shall be determined by such different methods."

4. As the seniority of the appellant was not dete