JUDGMENT

Anil Kshetarpal, J. - Through this writ petition filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to consider his claim for promotion to the post of Sub-Assistant Superintendent under 25% quota of Clerk-cumWarder as per Rule 7(3)(iii) of The Punjab Jails Department, Class III (Executive Staff) Rules, 1963 (hereinafter to be referred as "the 1963 Rules").

2. In the considered view of this Court, the question which arises for consideration is "If as per the Service Rules, the promotion to a post is provided from multiple feeder cadres with a fixed quota from each feeder cadre, whether an employee of one of the feeder cadre can seek a writ of mandamus to promote him, even after the Government has taken a conscious decision to abolish the avenues of promotion from that specific feeder cadre, particularly when he is not the senior most employee in that feeder cadre and the process for amending the Service Rules is at an advanced stage?"

3. Some facts are required to be noticed. The petitioner joined as Jail Warder on 12.09.2003. He was selected and consequently promoted as Cler