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