JUDGMENT :

Uday Umesh Lalit, J.

1. Leave to appeal granted in all Special Leave Petitions.

2. These are two groups of appeals, one arising from the Judgment and Order passed by the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack while the other arising from the decision of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. Since the issues involved in these matters are same, both sets of matters are being disposed of by this common Judgment.

3. The Directorate of Lift Irrigation in the Government of Odisha was converted into Orissa Lift Irrigation Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as the “OLIC”). The service conditions of Engineers including Junior Engineers which is the base cadre in the Engineering Wing of OLIC are governed by Orissa Service of Engineers’ Rules, 1941 (“1941 Rules” for short) as amended from time to time. Junior Engineers form the feeder cadre for promotion to the next level, namely, that of Assistant Engineers. Respondent No.1 [In the matter arising out of SLP(C) No.19807-19808 of 2012]–Rabi Sankar Patro, a Diploma holder in Electrical Engineering, joined OLIC as J