Khosla, J.

1. This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution by an officer of the Police who is aggrieved by an order reducing him in rank.

2. Objection was taken by the learned Advocate-General that this petition could not be entertained on the short ground that the order challenged was passed before the coming into force of the Constitution. The order which the petitioner seeks to challenge was admittedly passed in July, 1949. Indeed, there are two orders which affect the petitioners rank. The first of these is dated 16-4-1948 and the second was passed in July, 1949.

3. The facts briefly are that the petitioner was recruited in the Police Force in April 1837 as an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police. He was confirmed in this post in 1940 and in 1941 he was promoted to the rank of officiating Sub-Inspector. He was confirmed as Sub-Inspector in 1941 and two years later in 1946 he was promoted to the rank of Selection Grade Sub-Inspector. This was his substantive rank. In 1947 he was promoted as Officiating inspector and In the same year five criminal cases were instituted against him and an order of suspension was passed by the Department. While these cases were pen