JUDGMENT :

M. R. Shah, J.

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned common judgment and order dated 31.07.2021 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in Writ Petition Nos. 33038-33039/2016, by which the High Court has allowed the said writ petitions, the Union of India and others have preferred the present appeals.

2. The facts leading to the present appeals in a nutshell are as under :-

2.1 That the respondents herein original writ petitioners were appointed as Lower Division Clerk on 01.02.1973 and 03.08.1973, respectively. Thereafter, they were promoted to the post of Upper Division Clerk on 04.10.1976. That one of the respondents was promoted to officiate as an Inspector w.e.f. 02.04.1981 and the other respondent was promoted to officiate as an Inspector on 13.07.1981. One Shri C.K. Satish was appointed as an Inspector on 17.12.1981 by way of direct recruitment and one Shri B.S. Srikanth was also appointed as an Inspector by way of direct recruitment on 15.05.1982.

In order to provide upgradation to its employees and to remove the stagnation on a particular post, the Union of India introduced “Assured Career Progression Scheme” (ACP Scheme) w.e.f. 09.08.1999. The said S