1. The four petitioners are Assistants Grade III in the general administration cadre and the godown cadre of the Food Corporation of India (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) working in different stations of its Southern Zone. They joined service in Category 4 of the Staff Regulations of the Corporation. The Staff Regulations were issued in 1971 in exercise of the powers conferred under S.45 of the Food Corporation of India Act, 1964 (Act 37 of 1964). Assistant Grade III falls under Category 3. Appointment to the post of Assistants Grade III is by direct recruitment of graduates and also by promotion from among matriculate employees in Category IV, with three years experience. As per the amended regulations, eighty per cent of the total vacancies of Assistants Grade III are to be filled up by direct recruitment of graduates. The promotion quota for matriculate Category IV employees is only twenty per cent. The Petitioners are matriculate Category IV employees who had secured promotion to the cadre of Assistants Grade III. The next higher post is of Assistant Grade II in Category III and as per the Staff Regulations of 1971 as it originally stood, the mode of re