Nagendra Rai, J.

1. The petitioners of the four writ petitions, namely, CWJC Nos. 4538, 4547, 4554 and 4621, all of 2003, are the employees of the Canara Bank, whereas, the petitioner of CWJC No. 797/02 is an employee of the Punjab National Bank..

2. The question involved in all the cases is as to whether the qualification of "Sahityalankar" with English from Hindi Vidyapeeth Deoghar, is equivalent to Bachelor Degree/Diploma or certificate for the purposes of giving promotion, increment etc. in the service.

3. All the writ petitions were placed before a learned Single Judge, who, by order dated 15.9.2003, has referred the matter for authoritative decision by a Division Bench in view of the fact that the said question has wide-ranging effect. That is how the matter has been placed before us for decision.

4. The petitioners of the last four writ petitions are the employees of Canara Bank. They were appointed on daily wages and, thereafter, were appointed as permanent Sub-Staff on different dates. In the meantime, they acquired the qualification of Sahityalankar with English from Hindi Vidyapeeth, Deoghar. They are aggrieved by the decision taken by the respondent-Manager, Staff Section (Workmen), Canara Bank, dated 15.2.2002, informing that their promotions from Sub-Staff to the clerical cadre under the Graduate category of the Bank have been rejected by the competent authority on the ground that the said promotions have not been considered favourably due to the fact that the recognition given to Sahityalankar examination conducted by Hindi Vidyapeeth, Deoghar, is not treated as full fledged decree for the purpose of releasing promotion and graduation increments. The said order has been annexed as Annexure 6 in CWJC No. 4538 of 2003. After passing of the aforesaid order, the petitioners of CWJC Nos. 4547, 4554 & 4621, all of 2003, represented the matter and the said decision has again been reiterated by orders dated 31.12.2002 and both the orders have been annexed as Annexures 7 and 9 in the three writ petitions.

5. So far as the petitioner of CWJC No. 797/2002 is concerned, he is aggrieved by the decision dated 21.6.1997 taken by respondent-Punjab National Bank, as contained in Annexure 6, whereby the benefit of priority marks for grant of increments to him on account of acquiring the qualification of Sahityalankar from Hindi Vidyapeeth, Deoghar, has been denied on the ground that the same is not equivalent to Bachelor degree.

6. Before proceeding to consider the respective cases of the parties, it is necessary to state the facts, which are not in controversy. The Bank has a scheme for promotion of Sub-Staff to clerical cadre on fulfilment of certain conditions and norms. For the promotion of Sub-Staff to clerical cadre under graduate category, the requirement is that such Sub-Staff, who complete their graduation and conform to the eligibility service stipulated, shall be called for interview for promotion to clerical cadre by the Sub-Committee and after interview the selection is to be made.

7. In 1991, the Indian Banks Association advised all the Banks including the Canara Bank that the Sahityalankar Examination along with English from Hindi Vidyapeeth, Deoghar, was recognized as equivalent to Bachelor degree, which was in the light of the recommendation of the Bihar Government. Thereafter, the Canara Bank on 6.12.1991 issued an instruction that passing of the Sahityalankar Examination alongwith an English examination from Hindi Vidyapeeth or from any other Indian University or Board of the same standard, can be treated as equivalent to graduation for all the purposes. The same view was again reiterated on 29.2.1996. Copies of the said decisions have been annexed as Annexures 1 and 2 to CWJC No. 4538/2003. Later on, the Indian Banks Association informed the Bank that the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, had clarified that the recognition given to the examinations conducted by Voluntary Hin