The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of the 'catch-up rule' and the concept of consequential seniority in the context of reservation in promotions, as well as the interpretation of the Bihar Public Works Department Code, Rule 27, to determine the seniority of employees.

Ajay Kumar Tripathi, J.

In both the writ applications the notification no.6716, dated 01.06.2016 issued under the signature of one Ram Bujhaban Choudhary, Special Secretary, Rural Works Department is under challenge. By virtue of this notification, the final seniority list of Executive Engineers has been fixed which has become a bone of contention for the petitioners in both the writ applications because according to them, these petitioners have been shown to be junior to the private respondents, which they are not, according to their stand. All the petitioners started their career under the State of Bihar primarily under the Road Construction Department or the Water Resources Department as Assistant Engineers. They have earned their promotion on the post of Executive Engineer and even Superintending Engineer in some case. Over a period of time, in the rearrangement of the cadre and allocation in the departments, the petitioners are now working under the Rural Works Department. The necessity for publication of a gradation list showing seniority of the Engineers, working under the department was felt, which culminated into the notification dated 01.06.2016, which is Annexure-8 to CWJC No.9962 of 2016 and Annexure-11 to CWJC No.10029 of 2016. The notification itself would indicate that the final seniority list has been published after inviting objections.

2. The brief facts which have been culled out from CWJC No.9962 of 2016 are that petitioner no. 1 was initially appointed in the Road Construction Department, Govt. of Bihar as an Assistant Engineer (Civil) in the year 1985. Subsequently he was promoted in Class I services as Executive Engineer, Road Construction Department, Government of Bihar in the year 1993 vide notification no. 4313(s) dated 14.07.1993. Thereafter the petitioner has also been promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer dated 23.09.2006 and since then has been rendering his service as Superintending Engineer.

3. Petitioner no. 2 was initially appointed in the post of Assistant Engineer, in Road Construction Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna in the year 1987 and was subsequently promoted to the post of Executive Engineer, Road Construction Department, Government of Bihar, Patna in the year 1996 vide notification dated 27.08.1996 in which the name of petitioner no. 2 appears at serial no. 48. He was subsequently promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer in the year 2008 vide notification dated 30.07.2008 in the name of the petitioner appears at serial no. 7 and since then has been rendering his services as Superintending Engineer.

4. Petitioner no. 3 was initially appointed in the post of Assistant Engineer, in the Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar, Patna in the year 1989 and was subsequently promoted to the post of Executive Engineer, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna in the year 1999 w.e.f. 1997 vide notification no. 2408 dated 04.08.1999 in which the name of petitioner no. 3 appears at serial no. 42. He was subsequently promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer in the year 2009 and since then has been rendering his services as Superintending Engineer.

5. It is stated that these departments comes under the public works department and as per the Bihar Public Works Department Code, (herein referred to as "PWD Code") the establishment of Public Works Department consist of as following:-

(a) The Bihar Engineering Service, Class-I

(b) The Bihar Engineering Service, Class-II

(c) The Bihar Subordinate Engineering Service

(d) Revenue establishment

(e) Office establishment

(f) Petty establishment

6. It is stated that the Bihar Engineering Service Class-I Cadre consist of post of Executive Engineer which is entry level post, the Superintending Engineer, the Chief Engineer and Engineer-in-Chief. Whereas the Bihar Engineering Service Class-II Cadre consist of post of only Assistant Engineer. Thus the pay scale of the post of Assistant Engineer and the pay scale of the post of