Balakrishnan Nair J.

The petitioners approached this court challenging Ext.P5 order of the Government allowing the representations of some inter-district transferees and granting them seniority over the petitioners and other similarly placed Police Constables and Ext.P7 order passed by the Director General of Police granting identical reliefs. Initially this court granted interim stay of those orders. Later, after hearing both sides this court vacated the interim order by order dated 6-9-2007. The said order reads as follows:-

“The petitioners in this Writ Petition challenge Ext.P5 order of the Government and also the order of the Director General of Police, Ext.P7. They are presently working in the District Armed Reserve, Idukki. Initially, they were recruited to the Kerala Armed Police Battalion V. They were transferred to the District Armed Reserve, Idukki, according to their turn. Before they joined the District Armed Reserve, respondents 4 and 5 were transferred from the District Armed Reserve, Ernakulam to the District Armed Reserve, Idukki on 29.09.2001, on inter-district transfer basis as juniors to the juniormost in Idukki. Those respondents are entitled to count their seniority in the District Armed Reserve, Idukki with effect from the date they joined that unit. The petitioners are entitled to count their seniority in the District Armed Reserve, Idukki, only with effect from the date of the order, transferring them. According to the petitioners, they are entitled to count their seniority, with effect from the date of advice of the Public Service Commission, to the Kerala Armed Police Battalion V, by virtue of the proviso to Rule 3 of the Special Rules. The said Rule, as given in the book, Special Rules for the Kerala Subordinate Services, authored by M/s. N. Suganthan and A.V.R. Panicker, reads as follows:

‘Units of Appointment: The District Armed Reserve and Armed Police Battalions shall be separate units for appointment and the posts in the District Armed Reserve shall be filled up by transfer of Constables from the Armed Police Battalions as per the guidelines to be fixed by the State Government from time to time.

Provided that notwithstanding anything contained in Rule 27 of the General Rules of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1985, the seniority of a Police Constable appointed to a District Armed Reserve from an Armed Police Battalion shall be determined by the date of the order of his first appointment or the date of first effective advice of the Public Service Commission for his appointment, as the case may be, to the post of Police Constable in the Armed Police Battalion.

Provided further that nothing contained in the above proviso shall adversely affect the seniority of those Police Constable who have already been appointed to the District Armed Reserves before the date of coming into force of the Recruitment Rules to the post of Police Constable in the Kerala Police Subordinate Service (Amendment) Rules, 1980 published under Notification G.O.(MS)125/80/Home dated 26.12.1980.

Provided also that nothing contained in the above provisos shall adversely affect the seniority of the Police Constable directly recruited as a Police Constable in the Armed Reserve and subsequently transferred to the local police or such Police Constables of the Armed Reserve promoted as Head Constables in the Armed Reserve.” (emphasis supplied)

The petitioners’ claim is founded on the first proviso to the above quoted Rule. Going by the first proviso, the impugned orders of the Government and that of the Director General of Police, are liable to be interfered with. Those orders say, the transferees from the Armed Police Battalion to the District Armed Reserve are entitled to count their seniority in the District Armed Reserve only with effect from the date of the order transferring them.

2. But the respondents have filed a counter affidavit and have come up with a contention that the Rule quoted above is n