Viswanatha Iyer, J.

These three appeals involve a common question of construction of R.51A of Chapter XIV-A of the Kerala Education Rules (the Rules, for brevity). This rule had been the subject of consideration in two decisions of this court in Gopalakrishnan Nair v. District Educational Officer, 1988 (1) KLT 644 and Sreekumari Amma v. State of Kerala, 1988 (2) KLT 359, both by the same Division Bench. Appellants however contend that these decisions require reconsideration as, according to them, all aspects relating to the rule have not been considered in those decisions, and also because the Bench had not taken note of an unreported judgment in Writ Appeal Nos. 160 and 197 of 1972, which is stated to tale a contrary view.

2. We shall briefly state the facts in the three cases. W.ANo.64j6 of 1991:

The appellant was appointed as a lower grade Hindi teacher in the Upper Primary section of the school, of which the fourth respondent is the Manager, in a leave vacancy from 10-11-1976 to 14-1-1977. The appointment was approved. She is fully qualified for the post of High School Assistant (Hindi) (H.S.A. for short). In the year 1989-90 one post of H.S.A fell vacant when the incu