JUDGMENT :

(Manjusha Deshpande, J.) :

The Petitioners herein were working as Education Officers Group- A, and have been appointed on different dates, who are aspiring for the post of Deputy Director of Education on the basis of their seniority in the feeder cadre of Education Officers. They are challenging the order passed by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, in Original Application No. 649 of 2023, which has been rejected by the Tribunal by its judgment and order dated 20 October 2023.

2. The case of the Petitioners before the Tribunal was that the Petitioners who belong to the cadre of regular Education Officers working in the School Education and Sports Department were aspiring for the further promotion to the post of Deputy Director, of Education, in the near future. According to them, they fulfill the eligibility criteria required for the post of Deputy Director of Education as provided in Rule 3, of the Recruitment Rules of Deputy Director of Education in the Maharashtra Education Service, Group- A (Administrative Branch), Recruitment Rules, 2018. The cadre