Judgment

R. S. BACHAWAT, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner is a member of the Indian Administrative Service having been appointed to a junior post therein on 2/04/1952 on the basis of a competitive examination held by the Union Public Service Commission in the year 1951. He completed his probation on 2/10/1953. He was originally allotted to the Madhya Bharat Cadre of the Indian Administrative Service which along with the former Vindhya Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Cadres, merged in the present Madhya Pradesh Cadre of Indian Administrative Service constituted on 1/11/1956. He was appointed to officiate in a senior post on 17/11/1956. In the gradation list published on 1/01/1966, his number is 70. In this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution he claims that (a) he had the right to hold a post in the senior scale of pay from 2/04/1952 up to 17/11/1956 under the relevant rules read in the light of the decision in P. C. Wadhwa v. Union of India, 1964 (4) SCR 598: (AIR 1964 SC 423) and that (b) he is entitled to a higher place in the gradation list. He asks for the issue of appropriate writs declaring his rights and giving him consequential reliefs.

( 2 ) THE Madhya Bharat Cadre of the In