Jagannadha Rao, CJ.

'The appellant is the writ petitioner. He was appointed on a provisional basis as a Junior Engineer under R.9(a)(i) of the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules in the Public Works Department by an order dated 27-7-1971. When he was working in the post of Junior Engineer, he was advised by the Public Service Commission for the same post and in pursuance to the said advice, the Chief Engineer issued an appointment order dated 12-31973 and pursuant to that order the appellant joined service on 14-6-1973. His ranking is covered by his entry into the service on 14-6-1973. However, the pay and allowances were fixed on the basis that he was having continuous service from 7-8-1971. The appellant-writ petitioner now claims that he is entitled to count his regular service from 27-7-1971, the date on which he was provisionally appointed under R.9(a)(i) rather than from the date of his regular appointment, ie., 14-6-1973. It is stated that some representations had been given earlier but they were not in the records. The earliest representation on record is one dated 15-11-1988 (Ext.P5) seeking seniority from 27-7-1971. That would mean that the appellant h