1. - The original applicant has filed this writ petition being aggrieved by the order dated 18.12.2000 passed by the Central Administration Tribunal, Jaipur Bench, Jaipur.

2. For the sake of brevity, we shall refer to the petitioner 'the employee" and the respondents No. 1 to 3 collectively the 'railway administration'.

3. The brief facts leading to the controversy are thus :

(i) The employee was appointed on 30.11.1974 as casual labour as Mechanic/Driver in the scale of 260-400 (RP) in Kota Division of the railways.

(ii) The scale of 260-400 was subsequently revised to 950- 1500.

(iii) The employee was granted temporary status on 1.1.1981.

(iv) The employee is said to have passed the trade test on 10.10.1986.

(v) According to the petitioner, vide Railway Board's instructions contained in their letter dated 24.2.1979, the vacancies in the scale of Artisan grade are required to be filled in on percentage basis namely; 25% by open market candidates; 25% from amongst the serving employees in skilled and unskilled categories having the prescribed qualifications and 50% from amongst rankers on seniority-cum-sutiability basis. Based on that, it is the case of the employee that havin