JUDGMENT

AGRAWAL, J.— This appeal and the concerned petitions for special leave to appeal are directed against the common judgment of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court dated July 22, 1986 whereby the judgment of the learned Single Judge has been set aside and the writ petitions filed by the appellant as well as the petitioners in the special leave petitions (referred to as the petitioners for the sake of convenience) have been dismissed.

2. The petitioners joined the Indian Army as Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs) in 1963 after the Chinese aggression. They were discharged from the Army during the years 1967 to 1970. After their discharge from the Army, they joined the Commercial Tax Service of the State of Tamil Nadu on being selected by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission through a competitive examination. For rehabilitation of ECOs/Short Service Regular Commissioned Officers (SSRCOs) on their release from the Armed Forces, the Government of Tamil Nadu had by G.O.Ms. No. 84 dated January 1,1967, reserved 25 per cent of the vacan-cies to be filled by direct recruitment during the four years 1967-1970 in respect of certain categories of posts in the State services. By order, G.O.Ms. No. 686 dated March 24,1970, the Government of Tamil Nadu, in modification of the said order reserved 25 per cent of the vacancies in non-technical posts under various groups (both gazetted and non-gazetted) to be filled by direct recruitment during five years commencing from 1969 for rehabilitation of ECOs/SSRCOs on their release from the Armed Forces. The said order made provision for relaxation of age in case of such officers for the purpose of recruitment to the reserved vacancies. As regards seniority provision was made in paragraph 8 of the said order which prescribed as under:

"Inter se seniority among the candidates selected for the reserved vacancies will be determined by the Commission. So far as the seniority in the department is concerned, the officers will take their seniority with reference to the order of preference indicated by the Commission and not with reference to the service with the Armed Forces."

3. It appears that in respect of doctors who had joined the defence forces in connection with the emergency declared in 1962 and who were subsequently appointed in the cadre of Assistant Surgeons in the State of Tamil Nadu, the government had issued an order G.O.Ms. No. 2020 dated September 23, 1965, whereby seniority of such an incumbent was to be fixed by allotting them the year in which he would have been appointed to the post at his first possible attempt after the date of joining military service/training. The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, in their letter dated February 6, 1973 addressed to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, made a reference to G.O.Ms. No. 2020 Health dated September 23, 1965 with regard to fixation of seniority of andidates appointed to the post of Assistant Surgeon against vacancies reserved for ECOs/SSRCOs and expressed the view that allowing one of released persons like doctors to enjoy the concession of their seniority being reckoned with reference to their date of appointment in the Army and at the same time denying such a concession to ECOs/SSRCOs selected to a non-technical post will not be fair and such differential treatment will not also be in the interests of rehabilitating released Army personnel. The Public Service Commission, therefore, commended that the principle followed in the matter of determining seniority in respect of released Army Doctors with reference to the date of their joining duty in the Armed Forces be extended to all services as recruitments to all the services are made on the basis of the competitive examinations comprising either of a written test or an oral test or a combination of both. In the said letter, it was requested that orders in paragraph 8 of G.O.Ms. No. 686 may be suitably modified. Keeping in view the aforesaid view expres