S.S.Nijjar, J.

1. This order will dispose of C.W.P. No. 7581 of 1989 and C.W.P. No. 17603 of 1991.

2. In the aforesaid writ petitions under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for the issuance of a writ, order or direction, commanding the respondents to cancel the order of premature retirement and to release the promotion of the petitioner on the rank of Colonel. The relevant facts as culled out from the pleadings of the parties, are as under:-

The petitioner was commissioned as Second Lieutenant on 27.9.1963. He was promoted on the rank of Major in his own turn. The promotion upto the rank of Major is a time-scale promotion and granted after completion of a particular period of service. Thereafter, the promotion is selection based. The petitioner was duly promoted as Lieutenant Colonel on 30.8.1983. On 13.2.1985, the petitioner made an application for premature retirement due to family circumstances. The petitioner claims that unknown to him, his case for promotion on the rank of Colonel had been considered and approved in September, 1985. The approval of the promotion on the rank of Colonel was communicated to the petitioner by letter dated