1. Our learned brother Gopalan Nambiyar, J. (as he then was) referred this case to a Division Bench since an interesting question was raised before the learned Judge Whether the period of leave taken by a Government servant for the pursuit of his studies should count as period during which such Government servant could be treated as on probation is the question that has arisen in this petition. Aspiring to get further promotions to posts which called for higher qualifications the petitioners in this case applied for leave even before they completed their periods of probation, obtained such leave and were pursuing their studies in the M. Sc. course in Analytical Chemistry, they were Technical Assistants Grade II at the time they went on leave. When vacancies arose in the posts of Technical Assistants Grade I they could not be regularly promoted as they were not approved probationers. R.28 of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules requires that no member of a service shall be eligible for promotion from the category in which he was appointed to the service unless he has satisfactorily completed his probation in that category. A junior of the petitioners, the 4th r