Balakrishnan Nair, J.

These nine Writ Appeals arise out of the common Judgment of the learned Single Judge dated 20.12.2006, in Writ Petition (C) Nos.17897, 18004 and 18608 of 2006. Three of the Appeals have been filed by the High Court and the remaining, by the two affected party respondents in the Writ Petitions. The promotions granted to those party respondents from the post of Selection Grade District Judge to the Super Time Scale with retrospective effect, were challenged by three of their juniors in the cadre of Selection Grade District Judge, but who were promoted to the super time scale, earlier. The learned Single Judge treated Writ Petition (C) No.17897/06 as the main case. So, for convenience, we are treating WA No.715/07, which is one of the three Writ Appeals filed against the Judgment in the said Writ Petition, as the main case for the purpose of referring to the exhibits.

2. The appellant in WA No.715/07 is the third respondent and the first respondent is the petitioner in Writ Petition (C) No.17897/06. The appellant and respondents 1 and 3 in this Writ Appeal were Selection Grade District Judges. The third respondent and the appellant were seniors in the s