The petitioner, an Assistant Station Master in the Southern Railways, applied under Article 226 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ, to avoid the effect of the order, dated 25th April, 1952, issued by the first respondent, which, the petitioner complained, adversely affected his seniority in his cadre and was contrary to the rules in force governing seniority of the employees of his class in the State Railways .

It was common ground that the conditions of service of railway employees like the petitioner were governed among other things by the statutory rules in the Indian Railway Establishment Code, to which I shall refer hereafter as the Code. These rules were originally promulgated in exercise of the power vested in the Governor General - in - Council by section 241 (2) of the Government of India Act, 1935, the provisions of which were analogous to those of Article 309 of the Constitution. Under Article 313 of the Constitution these statutory rules continued in force after the commencement of the Constitution.

Under rules 156 and 157 of the Code there was a further delegation of power to frame rules. Rule 156 ran:

“The Railway Board