JUDGMENT

DUTT, J. :— Special leave is granted in all these matters. Heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. The principal question that is involved in these appeals is somewhat peculiar. The question is whether the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Sholapur, has a separate and independent existence or whether it is part and parcel of the Revenue Department. The best authority which can answer the question is the Government, but the Civil Courts and the High Court have not been able to accept the Government version that the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Sholapur, is an independent Government Department and does not form part of the Revenue Department. The facts leading to the question will be stated presently.

3. The Commissioner of Pune Divisions by his order dated January 27, 1981, granted promotions to the appellants to the posts of Awal Karkuns, and directed that the private respondents herein, who were holding these posts would be repatriated to their parent department, that is, the Revenue Department. Aggrieved by the said order of the Commissioner, Pune Division, some of the private respondents filed a civil suit for a declaration that the said order granting out of turn promotions to the appellants as Awal Karkuns was unjust, illegal and violative of the fundamental rights of the respondents guaranteed under Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. The learned Civil Judge, Senior Division, Sholapur, decreed the suit and declared that the impugned order of the Commissioner, Pune Division, was discriminatory, illegal and not binding upon the respondents. The learned Civil Judge also granted an injunction permanently restraining the Government from reverting the respondents from the posts of Awal Karkuns to the posts of Clerks. On appeal, the Fourth Additional District Judge, Sholapur, upheld the judgment and decree of the Civil Court and dismissed the appeal preferred by the appellants and the State of Maharashtra. The appellants and the State of Maharashtra filed two separate second appeals to the High Court of Bombay. In the meantime, some of the respondents also filed writ petitions in the High Court challenging the validity of the impugned order of the Commissioner, Pune Division. The High Court, by a common judgment, disposed of the second appeals and the writ petitions. The High Court came to the finding that the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Sholapur, had no separate existence on the date the impugned order was passed, and that it was part and parcel of the Revenue Department. Upon that finding, the High Court dismissed the second appeals and allowed the writ petitions of the respondents.

4. It is not disputed before us that before 1965, there was no such Department as the Food and Civil Supplies Department at Sholapur. Initially, the Agriculture, Food and Co-operation Department of the Government was entrusted with the subject of food and the supply thereof. By a circular dated January 13, 1965 of the Government of Maharashtra, a new department called "the Civil Supplies Department" was created. By a subsequent Government circular dated May 13, 1965 it was renamed as "Food and Civil Supplies Department". It appears from the said Government circular dated January 13, 1965, creating the department, that the Agriculture, Food and Co-operation Department was renamed as the Agriculture and Co-operation Department. In other words, the subject of food was withdrawn from the said Department and a new Department, namely, the Civil Supplies Department, subsequently renamed as Food and Civil Supplies Department was created.

5. After the creation of the Food and Civil Supplies Department, the statutory rationing was introduced in Sholapur City and Salgarwadi area under the control of the Food and Civil Supplies Department which will appear from the Government resolution dated Feb. 19,1966. As a result of introduction of statutory rationing, several posts had to be created in the establishment of the Controll