The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Gradation List and promotions based on it were unconstitutional and did not comply with the Reservation Rules of 1994 or 2005. The court also emphasized that promotions to the post of Civil Judge (Senior Division) should be made strictly on the basis of merit cum seniority as provided under J.& K. Civil Services (Classification, Control, Appeal) Rules, 1956.

Hasnain Massodi, J.

Petitioners and respondents 3 to 16 are 2003 Batch Judicial Officers. They, responded under their respective categories, to the Advertisement Notice No. PSC/Ex-2001/64 dated 04.12.2001, issued by J.& K. State Public Service Commission, inviting applications from the eligible candidates for posts of Munsiffs in the grade of Rs. 8000-12950. They and other aspirants for advertised posts participated in the selection process and on the strength of merit secured, found placed in the select list issued by the J.& K. Public Service Commission. The merit position of petitioners, private respondents as also of other candidates as per the Merit List/select list issued by the Commission (Annexure (A) to the writ petition, was as under:

S. No.	Roll No.	Name of Candidate	Category	G Total (Marks)
1	-	Amerjeet Singh Langeha	RBA	646
2	049	Sandeep Kour	RBA	608
3	082	Amit Kumar Gupta	OM	604
4	014	Sandeep Gandotra	OM	603
5	064	Anoop Kumar	OM	597
6	154	Farooq Ahmad Bhat	OM	595
7	138	Shabeer Ahmad	OM	587
7A	-	Arvind Sharma	OM	-
8	202	Yash Paul	OM	573
9	020	Imtiyaz Ahmed Lone	OM	571
10	117	Amit Sharma	OM	570
11	011	Khursheed Ul-Islam	OM	569
12	034	Arti Mohan	OM	563
13	147	Lmi Kul Soom Mir	OM	561
14	107	Pawan Kumar Sharma	OM	559
15	141	Iqbal Ahmad Massodi	OM	558
16	072	Renu Dogra	SLC	554
17	079	Sudesh Sharma	OM	552
18	018	Spalzes Angmo	ST	550
19	042	Adnan Sayeed	RBA	541
20	100	Khem Raj	OM	541
21	201	Dinesh Gupta	OM	540
22	074	Parvaiz Iqbal	OM	539
23	165	Mir Afroz	OM	537
24	063	Prem Sagar	OM	536
25	016	Archana Charak	OM	535
26	160	Ab. Quayom Mir	OM	533
27	030	Manzoor Ahmad Zargar	OM	532
28	007	Yahya Firdoos Ahanger	RBA	531
29	098	Manoj Parihar	RBA	504
30	143	Muzaffer Iqbal Khan	LAC	503
31	013	Bashir Ahmed Munshi	RBA	494
32	025	Raja Mohammed Tasleem	ST	485
33	015	Manjeet Rai	SLC	480
34	058	Anjum Ara	RBA	475
35	002	Manzoor Ahmed Khan	LAC	460
36	181	Rajni Sharma	RBA	447
37	041	Madan Lal	SC	436
38	144	Ahsan Ullah Parvez Malik	RBA	429
39	146	Javed Ahmad Naik	RBA	408
40	121	Arun Kumar Kotwal	RBA	379
41	038	Vinod Kumar	SC	379
42	051	Sushil Singh	SC	369
43	039	Romesh Lal	SC	367
44	150	Mansoor Ahmed Lone	RBA	340
45	168	Mohd. Naseem	RBA	333

2. J.& K. Public Service Commission vide PSC/Ex-2002/KCS (Judicial) dated 09.05.2003 forwarded the list of selected candidates to respondents 1 and 2. The respondent No. 2 on receipt of the select list recommended appointment of selected candidates as Munsiffs in the pay scale of Rs. 8000-12950 in the Subordinate Judiciary. The selected candidates on their appointment ordered vide Government Order No. 1815-LD (A) of 2003 dated 06.08.2003 became members of J.& K. Civil Services (Judicial).

3. The High Court of J.& K. through its Registrar General - respondent No. 2 herein, issued Gradation List on 01.06.2010 wherein the private respondents though below petitioners in the order of merit notified earlier (Annexure A), were shown at a higher place and therefore, senior to the petitioners. Private respondents were allowed a jump in seniority position by 2 to 30 steps in the Gradation List. Resultantly, seniority o