JUDGMENT

B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, J.—This batch of appeals is preferred against a common judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing a batch of six writ petitions.

2. There are three wings/branches in the Public Works Department of the Government of Haryana, viz., Irrigation, Roads & Buildings and Public Health. We are concerned herein with the Irrigation Branch. The engineering service in the Irrigation Branch comprises both Class I and Class II services. Recruitment to and conditions of service of Class I are governed by the Haryana Service of Engineers Class I, PWD (Irrigation Branch) Rules, 1964 whereas recruitment to and conditions of service of Class II is governed by Haryana Service of Engineers Class II, PWD (Irrigation Branch) Rules, 1970. The lowest category in Class I is that of Assistant Executive Engineers. Above it is the category of Executive Engineers and above it Superintending Engineers. Recruitment to the category of Assistant Executive Engineers is only by direct recruitment. Recruitment to the category of Executive Engineers is (a) by direct recruitment, (b) by transfer of an officer already in Class I service of the Government of India or of a State Government and (c) by promotion from Class II service. Sub-rule (2) of Rule 5 of Class I Rules says, "recruitment" to the service shall be so regulated that the number of posts filled by promotion from Class II service shall not exceed 75% of the number of posts in the service excluding the posts of Assistant Executive Engineers for the first 10 years from the date of commencement of these rules and thereafter shall not exceed 50% of the number of posts in the service excluding the post of Assistant Executive Engineers". The proviso to this sub-rule, however, says that "in case an adequate number of Assistant Executive Engineers who are eligible and considered fit for promotion are not available the actual percentage of officers promoted from Class II service may be larger than 75% or 50%, as the case may by". In other words, after the year 1974, the share of Class II officers in the promotion quota to the category of Executive Engineers category, shall not exceed 50%, the balance being allocated to the Assistant Executive Engineers who are also entitled to be promoted to the category of Executive Engineers. But in case adequate number of (sic Assistant) Executive Engineers are not available, the said ceiling can be exceeded.

3. Though the Assistant Executive Engineers are in Class I and Assistant Engineers are in Class II, both these categories discharge similar functions, duties and responsibilities. Members of both these categories are posted as Sub-Divisional Officers/Sub-Divisional Engineers. Both are eligible for promotion to the category of Executive Engineers as stated above, but while the cadre strength of Assistant Engineers is very large, the cadre strength of Assistant Executive Engineers is quite small, with the consequence that in the matter of promotion to the category of Executive Engineers, the Assistant Executive Engineers enjoy a marked advantage in view of the inter se quota prescribed by sub-rule (2) of Rule 5. The Assistant Executive Engineers get promoted far sooner than the Assistant Engineers. The cadre strength of Assistant Executive Engineers is stated to be 49. While the cadre strength of Assistant Engineers is not stated before us, it is admittedly far larger.

4. In the year 1985, the Haryana Public Service Commission issued a notification stating that "a combined competitive examination for recruitment to the post of Assistant Executive Engineers (C) in the PWD will be held by the Haryana Public Service Commission in August/September 1985 in accordance with the rules of Haryana PWD Irrigation, B & R and Public Health Branches, as amended from time to time". Then followed the table of particulars, which must be noticed:

Name of Post

No. of Posts

Reserved for SC of Haryana

Reserved for BC of Haryana

Reserved for Ex-servicemen

1

2

3

4

5

(i) Har