1. The petitioner is a Sub Inspector in the Armed Reserve in the Kerala Police Service. The first respondent, the Kerala Public Service Commission, called for applications for appointment to the post of Sub Inspectors in the General Executive branch. Since the said post carried brighter prospects, the petitioner applied for the same. The application was to be sent in a form costing Rs.S/-. The petitioner sent the application in the prescribed form along with a copy in another form bearing 50 paise stamp through the 2nd respondent-Inspector-General of Police, Trivandrum, on 2-10-1979. The petitioner felt that since he was a service candidate his application had to be routed through the head of the department. Ext. P1 is a true-copy of the covering letter sent along with the application. On 16-1-1980 the petitioner received Ext. P2 from the 1st respondent intimating him that his application was rejected as the same had been sent in the wrong form. What happened was that the 2nd respondent instead of forwarding the application bearing Rs.S/-stamp to the Public Service Commission forwarded the application bearing 50 paise stamp.

The petitioner wrote Ext. P3 letter to the fir