( 1 ) THE petitioner, a Telephone Operator, serving in the High Court of Gujarat, has by this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, prayed for direction to the respondent authorities to treat him in the common cadre of Jr. Clerks from the date of his appointment and to give him seniority in the said cadre accordingly and to give him deemed date of promotion in the higher cadre and for other consequential benefits. Subsequently, by amending the petition, the petitioner has also prayed for direction to the respondent authorities to apply scheme as contained in Government Resolution dated 5th of July, 1991 and to give him higher scale with effect from the date he has completed nine years service in the pay scale of Rs. 950-1500 and for other consequential benefits flowing therefrom.

( 2 ) IN order to properly appreciate the claim of the petitioner for the aforesaid relief, relevant facts which give rise to this claim shall have to be stated. The said facts are as under : (i) It appears that vide Government Resolution, Legal Department No. TEL-1073/ 8231-D, dated 24th August, 1973, sanction was granted to the creation of one temporary post of Telephone Operator in the scale of Rs. 130-240 on the establishment of the High Court of Gujarat, Ahmedabad. Pursuant to creation of such post, the petitioner came to be appointed as Telephone Operator in the scale of Rs. 130-240, on purely temporary basis, until further orders, on the post created by the aforesaid Resolution, vide appointment order dated 1st of December, 1973. The appointment order further recited that his appointment was purely temporary and that his services were liable to be terminated at any time without notice. (ii) Pursuant to such appoint, the petitioner resumed duty and continued to work as Telephone Operator. Though, post was said to be temporary and though nothing is produced on record to show that it has been made permanent at any later date, the petitioner has continued to work on the post as such. It is pertinent to note that looking to the nature of work which a Telephone operator is required to perform in the establishment of High Court and need to attend a large number of in-coming and out-going local as well as outstations calls, it was certain that the work was of permanent nature. The need of the post cannot be disputed and, in fact, continuance of such post till today would establish that not only the post was permanently required but was absolutely necessary post for the High Court Establishment. (iii) So far as the qualifications are concerned, it is pertinent to note that petitioner was a student of F. Y. B. Com. and had the requisite experience and knowledge of operating PBX Board as well as PABX Board. He was, therefore, selected by the High Court from out of ten candidates. (iv) It is pertinent to note that in the establishment of the High Court of Gujarat, prior to 1973, there was no post of Telephone Operator and it came to be first time temporarily created by the Government Resolution of 1973. Therefore, the Rules known as high Court of Gujarat Recruitment and Conditions of service of Staff) Rules, 1964 which came to be framed in exercise of the powers conferred by Art. 229 of the Constitution of India, do not make any provision for such post of Telephone Operator. The pay scale of Telephone Operator which was offered to the petitioner, viz. , of Rs. 130-240 was comparable to the pay scale of clerks/section writers, who fall within Class-III of the staff of the High Court. The clerks/section writers are the non-gazetted Ministerial staff bearing the very pay scale which was offered to the petitioner as Telephone operator. To be eligible for appointment to the post of section writers and junior clerks, a candidate under Rule 12 of 1964 Rules shall ordinarily be not less than 18 and not more than 25 years of age, must have at least passed the s. S. C. Examination recognised by Government with English as one of the s