JUDGMENT

Neena Bansal Krishna, J. A petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed on behalf of the petitioners for determining their seniority w.e.f. 04.10.2011, the date on which the result was declared and to place them senior to promotee Assistant Commandant, General Duty (hereinafter referred to as "AC/GD") promoted against the vacancy year 2011-12 as well as AC/GD selected through LDCE 2010-11 and consequential reliefs.

2. The petitioners are the direct recruits working as AC/GD with Indo-Tibetan Border Police (hereinafter referred to as "ITBP") under the administrative control of Union of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India/respondent No.1.

3. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force was raised on 24.10.1962 under the CRPF Act, 1949. Thereafter, the Parliament of India enacted the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force Act, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as "ITBP Act, 1992") to provide for the constitution and regulation of the ITBP and for matter connected therewith. Section 153 of the ITBP Act, 1992 under Chapter XI provides for the classification of the officers and their rank and the manner in which their seniority has to be determined.

4. In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 156 of ITBP Act, 1992, the Central Government published the ITBP Rules, 1994 on 30.05.1994. Rule 12 provided for the appointment of Officers. This Rule nowhere provided for determination of inter se seniority of the ITBP Officers appointed from different sources. Rule 187 of the ITBP Rules, a transitory provision, provided that any Rule or Order applicable to the Force on commencement of these Rules, shall continue to apply unless repugnant to these Rules and until and unless abrogated or modified by the Central Government or any other competent authority. Since ITBP Act, 1992 and Rules thereunder only provided for inter se seniority amongst the officers from same source, the respondent applied CRPF Rules for fixation of seniority as contained in Rule 8(b) (ii) of CRPF Rules, 1955.

5. The Ministry of Home Affairs for the first time introduced the system of Limited Department Examination (LDCE) on 21.08.2000 for the appointment of Officers including AC/GD in the Para Military Force to the extent of 17% of the total vacancies. Directions were accordingly issued to amend the Recruitment Rules. Standing Order No.6/2001 of February, 2001 issued by the Directorate General of the CRPF, provided that personnel recruited through LDCE shall be treated as part of promotion quota and their seniority will be with reference to the date of selection as per Department of Personnel and Training (hereinafter referred to as "DoP&T") O.M. dated 24.06.1978.

6. Subsequently, on 05.10.2010, the Central Government in exercise of the power conferred by Sub-Section (1) read with Clause (b) of Sub-Section (2) of Section 156 of the ITBP Act, 1992, notified the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, General Duty Cadre (Group-A posts) Recruitment Rules, 2010 which provided for mode of selection of AC/GD. According to these Rules, 33% of the vacancy was to be filled by promotion, 17% by LDCE failing which by promotion and 50% on the basis of All India Competitive Examination to be conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as "UPSC"). These Rules, however, did not provide for inter se seniority of direct recruits, promotees and personnel appointed through LDCE. The mode of ascertaining the inter-se seniority was provided in proviso to Rule 8(3) (iv) of the Central Reserve Police Force Group A (General Duty) Officers Recruitment Rules, 2001. It stated that in case of direct entrants, the year of declaration of result shall be the year of seniority. Further, inter se seniority of the directly recruited ACs and promotees shall be decided as per the orders of DoP&T issued from time to time.

7. The Notice vide Gazette Notification dated 29.05.2010, for competitive examination to be held by UPSC in 2010 for