( 1 ) LEAVE granted.

( 2 ) THE appellants are all employees of the Delhi Electric Supply undertaking and the question which arises for consideration relates to the appointment to the post of Assistant Accountant under Respondent 1.

( 3 ) BRIEFLY stated the facts are that there were statutory rules which were framed in 1978 inter alia dealing with the question of promotion to the various posts in the respondent-organisation. For the post of Assistant accountant there were two feeder posts, one was that of Senior Clerks with three years experience and the other was of the Junior Clerks with eight years experience.

( 4 ) IT appears that no examination was held for filling up the post of assistant Accountant for a number of years. Some ad hoc arrangement was made and the appellants in Civils @ Special Leave Petitions (C) nos. 13322-13323 of 1997 and others, who had been working as Senior clerks, had been upgraded in the post on 4/1/1990. This was pursuant to a resolution passed by the Corporation. The resolution, however, clearly stated that these employees will be working as Assistant Accountants and will be holding only current duties without any extra remuneration and that the arrangement was purely stopgap and would not give them any higher claim for the seniority or other benefit in the service matter. It was also stated therein that the arrangement was without prejudice to the outcome of the decision in the matter of an appeal which was filed by the managementagainst the judgment of the trial court pending before the Additional District judge, Delhi. This appeal which was pending had arisen from a suit which has been filed by one of the Junior Clerks, wherein the civil court had passed a decree on 19-5-1979 inter alia directing the respondent to fill up the posts of Assistant Accountant which were calculated to be 171 in number and the posts were required to be filled on the basis of the 1978 Rules. An appeal was filed against this judgment which was referred to in the aforesaid office order dated 4/1/1990. The aforesaid appeal was dismissed on 21/12/1992. The decree of the civil court became final and no further steps were taken by the respondent to challenge the said decision.

( 5 ) AT long last the respondent advertised the posts in January 1993 and after a period of nearly 12 months, the examination was held on 26/12/1993. According to the advertisement the posts which were to be filled were those which were available on that date. In the absence of a definite figure, we must proceed on the basis that the number of vacancies which were available and which were required to be filled were 171, which is the number which was specified by the civil court in its decree dated 19-5-1989.

( 6 ) ON the examination being held, the results were declared in February 1994. Only 79 persons who had appeared in the examination were appointed as Assistant Accountants. Two sets of writ petitions were thereafter filed in the Delhi High Court. Civil Writ No. 5771 of 1993 was filed by the Senior Clerks who were holding the current duty charge of Assistant Accountants and who are represented by Mr. G. L. Sanghi and their claim was as they were upgraded to the post and have been working as Assistant Accountants for a number of years, their services should be regularised in the post of Assistant Accountants.

( 7 ) THE other petition was Civil Writ No. 2356 of 1994. It was filed by the Junior Clerks who had taken the examination and the prayer in their writ petition was that the respondents should have filled the vacancies which were available and the number of vacancies which were filled should not have been restricted to 79. It appears that though the Senior Clerks who were holding the current duty charge in the higher post of Assistant Accountants, could take the examination which was held in December 1993, it is only a few of them who took the examination. The High court by the impugned decision has come to the conclusion that 79 persons had