Judgment

VENKATARAMIAH, J.:- The first petitioner in these petitions is the Telecommunication Research Centre Scientific Officers (Class I) Association. The petitioners 2 to 22 are its members. They are working as officers in the Telecommunication Research Centre of the Posts and Telegraph Department which is directly under the control of the P & T Board of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India. The Telecommunication Research Centre is engaged in the research and development work concerning the telecommunication equipment for the use of the Department and in advising the P & T Board on relevant technical matters relating to the introduction of new equipment and technology in the existing public communication network. The recruitment to the different cadres in the Telecommunication Research Centre is now being made under the Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I (Telecommunications Research Centre of the Posts and Telegraphs Department) Recruitment Rules, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as "the Recruitment Rules") framed by the President under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India. During the period between 1956 and 1962 and further till 1965 all the Class I posts of the Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I namely Assistant Director and Deputy Director were manned by the Transferred Field Officers belonging to the Indian Telecommunication Service Group A and Group B. For the first time the Union Public Service Commission advertised for the recruitment of 10 Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I in the Telecommunications Research Centre under the Recruitment Rules. These were General Central Service Class I posts and they continue to be so till today. In response to the said advertisement petitioners 2, 3 and 4 applied for recruitment and they were selected for appointment to the posts of S & T.O. Grade I. At the time of the filing of these writ petitions there were in all 21 officers who had been recruited at the entry level of Junior Class I posts of S & T.Os Grade I. They were recruited in four batches in 1965, 1967, 1970 and 1973.

2. The Class I posts in the Telecommunication Research Centre consist of the following posts :

1. Director (Senior Administrative Grade Level I )

2. Additional Director (Senior Administrative Grade Level II)

3. Deputy Directors (Junior Administrative Grade)

4. Assistant Directors (Senior Class I)

5. Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I (Junior Class I).

3. The posts of Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors and S.T.Os. Grade I are filled by the following methods :

(a) by direct recruitment through the Union Public Service Commission, (The petitioners belong to this category. They are now holding the posts of Assistant Directors or Deputy Directors since 1975. Direct recruitment to the Telecommunication Research Centre has been discontinued.)

(b) by transfer of Group A Field Officers recruited through the Union Public Service Commission by written examination followed by an interview, (These officers belong to the Indian Telecommunication Service Group A) and

(c) by transfer of Group B Field Officers who are Posts and Telegraphs departmental promotees belonging to the Telegraph Engineering Service, Group B.

4. The direct recruits to which category the petitioners belong and the Transferred Field Officers Group A working in the Telecommunication Research Centre discharge same functions and duties. The qualifications for recruitment prescribed in the case of both classes are the same. They are in the same pay scales from 1-1-1973 at the comparable levels/grades, i.e., Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I, Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors as recommended by the Third Pay Commission and accepted by the Government.

5. In these petitions, the petitioners have raised two grounds, namely, the first relating to the denial of promotional opportunities to them on account of the irregular implementation of the rules of promotion contained in the Recruitment Rules a