( 1 ) THERE are two appeals before the Court, both directed against the judgment of Wad J. , in Civil Writ No. 268/81 delivered on 17th April, 1984. One appeal is on behalf of Shri K. M. Sebastian Shri A. Mitra, Shri D. R. Julka and Shri Y. P. Kapoor, and the other appeal is by the Union of India. The concerned respondent in each case is Shri R. Srinivasan, who was the petitioner in the aforementioned Writ Petition. The grievance of the petitioner in the said Writ Petition can be shortly stated. He was a member of the Military Lands and Cantonments Service Class-I, later converted into the Defence Land and Contonments Service The promotion form this post was to the post of Deputy Director/assistant Director in the Service. Formerly, this post was known as Assistant Director. In 1971, there were two vacancies to which Shri D. C. Choudhari and Shri Harpal Singh, were promoted. It appears that then there were three more vacancies, which resulted in the promotion of Shri Gamkhar, Shri Anantharaman and Shri Krishnaswamy. In 1972, there were five vacancies. The persons promoted were Shri Sethi, Shri Oberoi, Shri Bedi, Shri Kumaran, and Srinivasan. Shri Srinivasan, who wa