JUDGMENT

B.C. Ray, J. - These two appeals by special leave one by the Punjab State Electricity Board, Patiala and the other by Gurdial Singh and others who were defendant-respondents 3, 4, 6 and 7 in Civil Suit No. 293T/16-1-181/17-7-80 passed in R.S.A. No. 254/38 whereby the judgments and the decrees of the courts below were affirmed decreeing the plaintiff-respondents suit declaring that the plaintiff-respondent be deemed to have been promoted from the date when his juniors as mentioned in the suit were promoted to the posts of Line Superintendents.

2. The case of the plaintiff in short is that the plaintiff-respondent Ravinder Kumar Sharma joined the service under respondent 1, Punjab State Electricity Board as a Lineman on December 25, 1969 and he worked as apprentice Lineman from December 29, 1969 to December 28, 1970 on a fixed salary of Rs. 140 per month. Thereafter he was allowed regular scale of pay of Rs. 110-330 since the date of his joining as a Lineman. The terms and conditions of the service of the Linemen as well as of the Line Superintendent are governed by the rules framed by the Punjab Government in exercise of its powers under Article 309 of the Constitution of India which were termed as P.W.D. (Electricity Branch) Provisional Class III (Subordinate Posts) Rules, 1952. Subsequently the State Electricity Board came into being and the Electricity Department came under the administration of the State Electricity Board.

3. The plaintiff has stated in the plaint that as a Lineman he had been performing his duties efficiently and honestly and there was never any complaint against his work. His work and conduct had always been appreciated by his superiors from time to time. He possesses the following qualifications :

1. B.A.

2. I.T.I. (in the trade of Electrician 2 years duration).

3. National Apprentice Certificate in the trade of Lineman (3 years duration).

All the Linemen under defendant 1, that is, Punjab State Electricity Board are either diploma holders or I.T.I. trained or non-diploma holders and they form and constitute one common cadre known as Linemen and in the same scale of Rs. 110-330. The seniority list of all these Linemen is common and joint. It has been further alleged that defendant 1 had been promoting officials from Linemen to the Line Superintendent on a pick and choose basis in consideration of the qualifications by fixing a quota between the diploma holders and non-diploma holders and this has resulted in arbitrary discrimination between the diploma holder and non-diploma holder Linemen thereby adversely affecting the promotional prospect of the non-diploma holder Linemen. It has been further stated that this policy of defendant 1 was set aside by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in L.P. Nos. 618, 619 of 1975 fixing the quota between diploma holder and non-diploma holder Line Superintendents by orders dated January 12, 1965 and June 27, 1974. The minimum qualification for promotion of Lineman to Line Superintendent is however matriculation. The plaintiff also stated that by order dated July 12, 1977 respondent 1 promoted Gurdial Singh whose name appeared at serial Number 1451 in the common seniority list and also the defendant Jaswant Singh whose name appeared at serial Number 1546 in the said list as well as Ramesh Kumar standing at serial Number 2309 in the said seniority list to the post of Line Superintendent even though the plaintiffs position in the seniority list was at serial Number 995 and he was senior to these officials. Thus the plaintiff was passed over while his juniors were promoted. This policy of pick and choose, it has been stated, in promoting the officials is wholly illegal and discriminatory. It has been further pleaded that by office order Number 899 dated August 17, 1977 defendant 2, that is, the Chief Engineer of the Electricity Board further promoted Sudesh Kumar and Virender Kumar whose name stand at serial Numbers 1877 and 2279 in the joint seniority list as Line S