Judgment :-

Ranjan Gogoi, J.

An appellate order dated 01.02.2006 of the Kerala High Court affirming the order dated 09.02.2005 of the learned Single Judge passed in a writ petition has been put to challenge in this appeal. The aforesaid two orders having somewhat circumscribed the perceived avenues for promotion of Graduate Typists/Confidential Assistants to the post of Section Officer in the Administrative Secretariat, two affected Graduate Typists, who have since been promoted to even higher post in the Secretariat, have instituted the present appeal.

2. To unravel the controversy between the parties, a brief narration of the essential facts would be required. Initially, a Government Order (for short “G.O.”) dated 10.1.1977 governed the method of promotions to the post of Section Officer in the Administrative Secretariat and also laid down the essential qualifications of the incumbents in the feeder category to be eligible for consideration for such promotion. The aforesaid G.O. dated 10.1.1977 was superseded by another order dated 5.6.1989 under which G.O. three categories of incumbents in the ratio of 15:1:1 (in a cluster of 17 posts) were made eligible for promotion to the post o