At the root of these appeals lies the contro#31;versy as to whether, while counting seniority of a Demonstrator under the Assam (Secon#31;dary Education) Provinciliased Service Rules, 2003, (in short, 'the 2003 Rules'), the period of service, which the person concerned had rendered, in the post of Demonstrator, in a Higher Secondary School, shall or shall not be counted.

2. A learned Single Judge of this Court has, by judgment and order, dated 06.08.2011, disposed of the writ petition, namely, WP(C) No.4538/2009, by taking the view that the past services, rendered by the members of the petitioner Association, namely, Assam State Higher Secondary School (Government and Provincialised) Demonstrators Associa#31;tion, in the posts of Demonstrator, shall, under the 2003 Rules, be counted. In consequence of this finding, two letters, dated 30.09.2009 and 05.10.2009, which had been issued by the Government to the contrary and which stood impugned in the said writ petition, were set aside and quashed.

3. Writ Appeal No.266/2011 as well as 274/2011 have been preferred by the persons, who alleged to have been adversely affected by the judgment and order aforementioned, and, according to whom, counting of past service of a person, which the person might have had rendered in the post of Demons#31;trator, will be illegal and ought not to be counted, for, the post of Demonstrator has been encadred, for the first time, in 2003 Rules, within the expression 'Graduate Teacher', and, hence, the demonstrators shall be treated as Graduate Teachers not w.e.f. from the date of their joining the posts of Demonstrator, but w.e.f. 11.08.2003, i.e. the date on which the 2003 Rules were brought into force.

4. So far as Writ Appeal No.286/2011 is concerned, the subject-matter of this appeal is the order, dated 17.11.2011, passed, in WP(C) No. 5769/2010, by a learned Single Judge of this Court, whereby, relying upon the decision in WP(C) No.4538/2008 aforementioned, the Commissioner and Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Education (Secondary) Department, has been directed to reconsider the matter of seniority of the writ petitioner and the respondent No.5 therein in the light of the position of law, which has been laid down in WP(C) 4538/2009, wherein the Court, as already mentioned above, has made it clear that, with the encadrement of the Demonstrator, under the 2003 Rules, as 'Graduate Teacher', the past service, rendered by a person, in the post of Demonstrator, shall be counted for the purpose of determining his/her seniority in the cadre of Graduate Teacher.

5. We have heard Mr. R.P. Sharma, learned Senior counsel, on behalf of the appellant in Writ Appeal No.266/2011, and Mr. D. Mazumdar, learned counsel, appearing for the appellants, in Writ Appeal Nos.274/ 2011 and 286/2011. We have also heard Mr. D.K. Mishra, learned Senior counsel, for the writ petitioner-respondent in Writ Appeal No.286/2011, and Mr. M.R. Pathak, learned Standing Counsel, Education Department, Govt. of Assam.

6. The material facts, giving rise to these appeals, may, in brief, be set out as under:

(i) Assam State Higher Secondary School (Government and Provincialised) Demonstrators Association, which the name of the Association, itself, discloses, is an Association of Demonstrators, working in various Government as well as provincialised Higher Secondary Schools, in Assam, having more than 200 member the Association being a registered Association and every member of the: Association holds a Bachelor Degree Science, which is the qualification require for the post of Demonstrator, in Higher Secondary Schools. The post of Demon strator was introduced, in the year to take practical classes in Science subjects. Although the members of the petitioner Association were recruited for taking practical classes, Government of Assam used to treat, vide various circulars the Demonstrators as normal teachers for all practical purposes and allotted to then normal classes to be taught by