The Special Rules take precedence over the Rules of Procedure, and the provisions were not violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

Ag. C. J. Bhaskaran, J.

1. The petitioner was an applicant for the post of Judicial Magistrate of the Second Class in response to Notification No. DCI (5) 3836/80/BW, dated February 30, 1980, issued by the 1st respondent, the Kerala Public Service Commission (the P.S.C.) published in the Kerala Gazette, dated February 19, 1980, Ext. P-1 being the relevant extract there from; and he was assigned rank No. 28 in Ext. B-2 ranked list prepared by the P.S.C. after holding a written examination and interview for the candidates in accordance with the said notification.

2. The Special Secretary, Home (C) Department, in his letter to the P.S.C., dated July 30, 1979, had requested the P.S.C. to advise 39 candidates for being appointed Judicial Magistrates of the Second Class alternatively by transfer and by direct recruitment from the Bar according to the provisions of R.6(3) of the Kerala Criminal Judicial Service Rules, 1973 (the Special Rules) which require that vacancies would be filled up alternatively by direct recruitment from the Bar, and by transfer. The petitioner being a member of the Bar, his application for selection and appointment was to the post in one of the 19 vacancies to be filled up by direct recruitment. It is the admitted case that if there were only 19 vacancies to be filled up by direct recruitment, the petitioner who ranked 28 in Ext. P-2 ranked list, prepared by the P.S.C. would not be entitled to be advised, as by the operation of rules 14-17 in Part II of the Kerala State and subordinate Services Rules, 1958 (the general rules), his turn could not have been reached.

3. When matters stood like this, the P.S.C. invited applications for appointment to the post of Judicial Magistrate of the Second Class by notification published in the Kerala gazette, dated November 19, 1982 (Ext. P-3). The number of vacancies notified was; (a) ten by direct recruitment from the members of the bar; and (b) ten by recruitment by transfer. A note under the head "Number of vacancies" reads as follows:

"Note.- Direct recruitment and recruitment by transfer will be made in accordance with R.6(3) of the Kerala Criminal Judicial Service Rules, 1973, i.e., vacancies will be filled up alternatively by direct recruitment and by transfer, the first appointment being by transfer. (Only as many persons as there are vacancies notified shall be appointed from the ranked list to be prepared in pursuance of this notification.)"

4. The thrust of the contention raised in the writ petition and argued by Sri T.R.G. Warrier, the counsel for the petitioner, is that Ext. P-3 notification and R.7(a) of the Special rules are unconstitutional, illegal, void and discriminatory in as much as they violate R.13 of the Kerala Public Service Commission Rules of Procedure, 1976 (the Rules of Procedure), which says that the ranked lists published by the Commission shall remain in force, for a period of one year from the date on which it was brought into force provided that the said list will continue to be in force till the publication of a new list after the expiry of the minimum period of one year or till the expiry of two years whichever is earlier. It was pointed out that Ext. P-2 ranked list was brought into force on 6th October 1981, and in terms of R.13 of the Rules of Procedure, it was to remain in force till the publication of a new list or till the expiry of two years, whichever happens earlier. That would mean, according to the petitioner, that Ext. P-2 list would be in force till 6th October 1983 unless a new list was published, and vacancies arising during that period had to be filled up by the candidates from Ext. P-2 ranked list. The submission made by Sri Warrier was that Ext. P-3 notification published on November 19, 1982, was clearly against this rule.

5. It is not the case of the petitioner that the rules of Procedure have been made by the P.S.C. under any specific provision in the Constitution, or any statute. Those rules, we are told, have