JUDGMENT

FATHIMA BEEVI, J.:—Civil Appeal No. 1060 of 1990 is directed against the judgment and order dated 11-7-1988 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dismissing the Civil Writ Petition No. 4725 of 1986 filed by the appellants.

2. The appellants are ex-servicemen reemployed in Government service in the State of Haryana. They served in the Indian Army during the period of operation of the proclamation of emergency made by the President of India under Art. 352 of the Constitution of India on October 26, 1962 and lifted on January 10, 1968. The Punjab Government National Emergency (Concessions) Rules, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as the Emergency Concessions Rules) in force w.e.f. November 1, 1966 provided certain benefits to ex-army personnel who are re-employed in the matter of increment, seniority, pension etc. The Rules were adopted by the State of Haryana. The Government of Haryana vide Notifications dated 22-3-1976, 9-8-1976 and 5-11-1976 introduced amendments to these Rules. The appellants are denied the benefits under the Rules in view of such amendments. ,The writ petition filed by the appellants challenging the amendments was dismissed in limine by the impugned judgment dated 11-7-1988.

3. Rule 4 of the Emergency Concessions Rules as it originally stood, in so far as is relevant for the purpose of these cases reads as follows:-

"Rule 4. Increments, seniority and pension,- Period of military service shall count for increments, seniority and pension as under:-

(i) Increments: The period spent by a person on military service, after attaining the minimum age prescribed for appointment to any service or post, to which he is appointed, shall count for increments ........................................................................ ................................................................................................................................................................. This concession shall, however, be admissible only on first appointment.

(ii) Seniority: The period of military servicementioned in clause (i) shall be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining the seniority of a person who has rendered military service.

(iii) .................................................."

For the purpose of the Rules the expression ,military service has been defined in R. 2 which reads as under.-

"2. Definition.- For the purposes of these rules, the expression military servicemeans enrolled or commissioned service in any of the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces (including service as a Warrant Officer) rendered by a person during the period of operation of the proclamation of emergency made by the President under Article 352 of the Constitution of India on October 26, 1962 or such other service as may hereafter be declared as military service for the purposes of these rules. Any period of military training followed by military service shall also be reckoned as military service."

4. By the first amendment vide Notification No. GSR 77/ Const/ Art. 309/ Amend(l) 76 dated 22-3-1976, a proviso was added to R.4(ii) which reads as under:-

"Provided that a person who has availed of concession under sub-rule (3) of Rule 3 shall not be entitled to the concession under this clause."

By the second amendment vide Notification No. GSR 182/Const/Art. 309/Amend(2)/ 76 dated 9-8-1976, the definition of the expression military service was substitute. It reads:-

"2. Definition.- For the purpose of these rules the expression military service meansthe service rendered by a person, who had been enrolled or commissioned during the period of operation of the proclamation of emergency made by the President under Article 352 of the Constitution of India on October 26, 1962 in any of the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces (including the service as a Warrant Officer) during the period of the said emergency or such other service as may hereafter be declared as military service for the purpose of these rules. Any period of mili