ORDER

S. PANDA, J. : Since the cause of action arises in both the writ petitions being one and the same, they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2.The petitioner in both the writ petitions challenges the action of the opposite parties in the matter of promotion to the post of Supervisor ignoring her seniority and promoting and placing opposite parties 4 to 10 above her.

3.The factual backdrops of the case are as follows :

The petitioner being matriculate and unemployed applied for the post of Anganwadi Worker and selected as such. Engagement order was issued by the Collector, Puri on 31.10.1979. She was engaged as Anganwadi Worker under the Child Development Project Officer, Brahmagiri. She worked as Anganwadi Worker at Palanka and Sahaspur Anganwadi Centres from 31.10.1979 to 31.5.1993. The petitioner discharged her duties with sincerity and efficiently and her service report was all through good. There was no break up service and no departmental proceeding was initiated against her. On 31.5.1983, she was transferred and posted at Tikarpada Anganwadi Centre under the Child Development Project Officer, Bhubaneswar which was at that time in Puri District. On 31.7.1983, she was posted at Nargada Anganwadi Centre under the urban area of Bhubaneswar Municipality. Thereafter, she was posted in different Anganwadi Centres under the rural area of Bhubaneswar with effect from 1983 to 2002. At the time of filing of the writ petition, she was working at Naragada Anganwadi Centre.

4.While the matter stood thus, a set of Rules were framed by the Government of Odisha in the Department of Women and Child Development which were called as the Orissa Children and Women’s Welfare Service Rules, 1989. The said Rule was amended in 2007. As per the said amended Rules, the petitioner deserved to get for promotion to the post of Supervisor as she had the requisite criteria, i.e. seniority-cum-merit in service. The Child Development Project Officer, Bhubaneswar, in pursuance of the amended Rules, 2007, prepared a gradation list of Anganwadi workers of the district. She, for the first time, came to know that in the said gradation list, her date of engagement as Anganwadi Worker had been wrongly recorded as 21.7.1983 instead of 31.10.1979 and the names of juniors had been reflected above her. Finding the said mistake in the gradation list, she made a representation on 25.1.2008 to correct the gradation list and record her date of engagement as 31.10.1979 as revealed from Annexure-2. She also obtained an experience certificate from C.D.P.O., Brahmagiri on 4.1.2008, who after verifying the record had issued an experience certificate that she was working as an Anganwadi Worker from 31.10.1979 to 31.5.1993. It is stated that she had lost all her service records, appointment letters and other connecting documents in 1999 Super Cyclone. As such, she could not produce the record before the Child Development Project Officer and requested to supply her copy of service records to establish her seniority in service. However, the CDPO on 28.1.2008 informed her that the documents could not be supplied to her as the same were eaten by white ants. She thereafter made another representation. However, without correcting the gradation list, promotion was given to the other persons from the post of Anganwadi Worker to the post of Supervisor on 5.5.2008 ignoring her seniority. She has also stated that opposite party No.5 was not qualified to be engaged as matric pass Anganwadi Worker in the scale of pay of Rs.175/- as she was appointed on 4.10.1982. She completed the “Madhyama” in Sanskrit (equivalent to HSC Examination) in the year 1999 in Regular Course. An Anganwadi Worker is to discharge her duty as full time and in such event how she cold take admission in the course as regular students and attend the class. Therefore, the said certificate was obtained without due permission from the authority and by neglecting the full time duties. Th