S. S. Sandhawalia, C. J. – Does Rule 49A of the Bihar Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1930, suffer from the vice of arbitrariness and is consequently violative of Article 14 of the Constitution? Who is the appointing authority of the members of the Bihar Engineering Service Class I-the Governor or the Council of Ministers? This is the twin question which necessitates this reference to the Full Bench. Equally at issue is the correctness of the view of the Division Bench in the case of Bachcho Lal Das v. The State of Bihar and others (1983 Patna Law Journal Reports 561).

2. Shorn of surplusages, the writ petitioner, Sri Bhup Narayan Jha, an Executive Engineer in the Department of Irrigation, Bihar, assails the ORDER :of his suspension in Annexure ‘9’, dated 29th of August, 1983, passed admittedly under Rule 49A of the Bihar Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). It is first challenged on the ground of the very constitutionality of the said rules and, in the alternative, that the same is not in consonance therewith in so far as it has not been passed by the appointing authority, which