The petitioners are 'officers in the Forest Department of the State of Bihar and have claimed promotion to the Indian Forest Service. There is also a 'prayer for quashing the notification (Annexure 10 to the writ application) whereby Respondents 5 and 6 have been included in that Service.

2. The petitioners were appointed Forest Rangers on 3-4-1951. Their case is that by a memorandum dated the 20th January, 1961 of the Revenue Department (Annexure 1 to the writ application), 17 posts of Junior Forest Officers were created in the Bihar Forest Service. On the 7th August, 1964, the petitioners were promoted to the Bihar Junior Forest Service by a notification (Annexure 2 to the writ application). On the 26th April, 1973, the petitioners were further promoted to the posts of Assistant Conservator of Forests by the notification, as contained in Annexure 4 to the writ application. The Indian Forests Service was constituted under the provisions of the All India Service Act, 1951, and the petitioners, by virtue of being members of the Bihar Forest Service, were eligible for being promoted to the Indian Forest Service, but under erroneous interpretation of the law, they were held to be ineligible. They unsuccessfully represented in the matter. Ignoring the claim of the petitioners, the Responds 5 and 6 were promoted, which necessitated the filing of the present writ application.

3. The All India Service Act, was enacted in 1951 for regulating the recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to the All India Service common to the Union and States. In 1963, provision was made by the amendment of the Act, for constitution of the Indian Forest Service. Section 3 of the Act, provided for rules to be made by the Central Government after consultation with the State Government for regulation of recruitment and conditions of service. Accordingly the Indian Forest Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1966, were framed and came into force with effect from 1.7.1966. They will be referred to hereinafter as 'the Rules'. The term 'service in the rules means the Indian Forest Service, as indicated in section 2(d). The 'State Forest Service' has been defined in section 2(g) which provision has been the subject matter of great controversy in the present case. The relevant portion of the definition is quoted below:

"2. Definitions-In the rules, unless the context otherwise requires,

(g) "State Forest Service means :-

(i) any such service in a State being a service connected with forestry and the members thereof having gazetted status, as the Central Government may, in consultation with the State Government, approve for the purposes of these rules; or

(ii) any service in such Central Civil Post, Class I or Class II, connected with forestry, as may be approved by the Central Government for the purposes of these rules."

The Rule 3 dealing with the constitution of the Service said that the Service should consist of-

(a) Members of the State Forest Service recruited to the Service at its initial constitution in accordance with provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 4, and

(b) persons recruited to the Service in accordance with the provisions of sub-rules (2) to (4) of Rule 4

Regulations were made under rule 4 (1) for the initial recruitment to the Service, but that has nothing to do with the present case, Clause (b) of sub-rule (2) of Rule 4 provided for promotion of substantive members of the State Forest Service to the Indian Forest Service. The appointment to the Service by direct recruitment is dealt with in Rule 7 and regulations were made thereunder in 1967. We are not concerned with those regulations also in this case. What is relevant in the present case are the regulations framed under Rule 8 for the purpose of recruitment by promotion from amongst the substantive members of the State Forest Service. These regulations were also framed in 1966 and came into force with effect from 1.7.1966 and are called the Indian Forest Service (Appoint