Point of Law: Rules of 1973 clearly prescribe that these Rules shall regulate recruitments and conditions of service of persons appointed to ministerial service in various officers of Heads of department in Government.

JUDGMENT :

Soumitra Saikia, J.

This writ appeal arises out of the Judgment and Order dated 01.12.2015 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P(C) No. 2395/2011. The writ petition was filed by the petitioner with the following reliefs:

(1) To declare that ministerial staff in the office of the Joint Commissioner of Excise, Assam, are part of ministerial staff under the Head of the Department, i.e., Commissioner of Excise, Assam;

(2) To direct the respondents to prepare a common cadre-wise gradation list of all the ministerial staff under the establishment of Commissioner of Excise, Assam;

(3) To direct the respondents to provide consequential service benefits to the ministerial staff serving in the office of the Joint Commissioner of Excise, Assam, following preparation of common gradation list;

(4) To direct the respondents to promote the petitioner to the post of Superintendent effective from the date on which his juniors were promoted.

2. The case projected by the writ petitioner before the learned Single Judge was that he was appointed as LDA-cum-Typist by order dated 01.02.1978 issued by the Chemical Examiner of Excise, Assam. Vide order dated 30.07.1988 passed by the Commissioner of Excise, Assam, the petitioner was placed at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioner of Excise, Assam and in his place another person was placed temporarily as LDA-cum-Typist at the disposal of Chemical Examiner (Excise), Assam. Thereafter, the services of the petitioner was utilized in the office of the Joint Commissioner of Excise, Assam who was attached to the office of the Commissioner of Excise, Assam. Vide order dated 06.03.1997 issued by the Commissioner of Excise, Assam, the services of the petitioner was placed in the Office of the Commissioner of Excise, Assam. However, by a subsequent order dated 25.06.1997, the attachment of the petitioner in the Office of the Commissioner of Excise, Assam was withdrawn by the Commissioner of Excise. The petitioner was granted the third stagnation increment with effect from 01.02.2005 vide order dated 30.03.2005 by the Joint Commissioner of Excise, Assam. Thereafter, by order dated 25.03.2008, issued by the Commissioner of Excise, Assam, the petitioner and one Smt. Babita Lahan were promoted to the post of UDA against the existing vacancies in the office of the Joint Commissioner of Excise. The petitioner submitted representation before the Commissioner of Excise, Assam ventilating his grievance that during his entire service career, he had the benefit of only one promotion and that persons junior to him had received prior promotion enabling them to receive promotion to still higher post. The respondent No. 5, namely Smt. Suchitra Brahma, vide order dated 13.08.2007 issued by the Secretary to the Government of Assam, Excise Department, was promoted to the post of Superintendent. The promotion order was passed under Rule 8 of the Assam Directorate Establishment (Ministerial) Service Rules, 1973. According to the petitioner, the said respondent No. 5 served as a UDA in the office of the Commissioner of Excise and was junior to the petitioner in so far as the length of service is concerned. The petitioner along with other similarly situated persons jointly submitted another representation dated 23.09.2009 addressed to the Secretary to the Government of Assam, Excise Department, requesting for parity of pay equivalent to the pay-scale with staff in the office of the Commissioner of Excise, Assam holding equivalent post. Though the views of Commissioner of Excise, Assam, was sought for by the Government vide letter dated 29.04.2010 and by subsequent letters, no response was forthcoming. Being aggrieved, the writ petition was filed seeking the reliefs as indicated above.

3. The learned Single Judge upon hearing the parties arrived at a finding that the Commissioner of Excise has got overall control over the Ministerial Staff in any of the three establishments namely, the Offices of the Chemical Examiner (Excise