Hon’ble Arun Tandon, J.—Heard counsel for the petitioner and the Standing Counsel.

2. Petitioner before this Court seeks writ of mandamus commanding the respondents to consider his claim for promotion on the post of Lecturer (English) in accordance with rule 14 of the U.P. Secondary Education Services Selection Board Rules, 1998.

3. Brief facts on record are as follows :

Luxman Prasad Chaturved Arya Kanya Inter College is an aided and recognised institution under the provision of U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921, U.P. Act No. 24 of 1971 and U.P. Act No. 5 of 1982 are fully applicable to the teachers of the said Institution. The petitioner was appointed as LT Grade Teacher in the said Institution on 15.12.2004 on the recommendation of the Selection Board. A vacancy on the post of Lecturer (English) is stated to have been caused due to transfer of one Smt. Mitika Sharma on 31.8.2009. It is against this vacancy that the petitioner has set up a claim for promotion.

4. Promotion on the post of Lecturer of a recognised Intermediate College is regulated under Rule 14 of the U.P. Secondary Education Services Selection Board, Rules, 1998. Rule 14 are as follows :

Procedure for recruitment by promotion.—(1) Where any vacancy is to be filled by promotion all teachers working in trained graduates grade or Certificate of Teaching grade, if any, who possess the qualifications, prescribed for the post and have completed five years continuous regular service as such on the first day of the year of recruitment shall be considered for promotion to the lecturers grade or the trained graduates grade, as the case may be, without their having applied for the same.

Notes.—For the purposes of this sub-rule, regular service rendered in any other recognised institution shall be counter for eligibility, unless interrupted by removal, dismissal or reduction to a lower post.

(2) The criterion for promotion shall be seniority subject to the rejection of unfit.

(3) The management shall prepare a list of teachers referred to in sub-rule (1), and forward it to the Inspector with a copy of seniority list, service records, including the character rolls, and a statement in the proforma given in appendix ‘A’.

(4) Within three weeks of the receipt of the list from the management under sub-rule (3), the Inspector shall verify the facts from the record of his office and forward the list to the Joint Director.

(5) The Joint Director shall consider the cases of the candidates on the basis of the records referred to in sub-rule (3) and may call such additional information as it may consider necessary. The Joint Director shall place the records before the Selection Committee referred to in sub-section (1) of Section 12 and after the Committee’s recommendation, shall forward the panel of selected candidates within one month to the Inspector with a copy thereof to the Management.

(6) Within ten days of the receipt of the panel from the Joint Director under sub-rule (5), the Inspector shall send the name of the selected candidates to the Management of the institution which has notified the vacancy and the management shall accordingly on authorisation under its resolution issue the appointment order in the proforma given in appendix ‘F’ to the such candidate.

5. It would be clear that only such teachers working in L.T. Grade are entitled to be considered for promotion who have completed 5 years of regular service as such on the first day of the year of the recruitment.

6. The issue therefore that requires determination by this Court is as to what would be the Ist day of the year of recruitment with reference to the vacancy caused in the Institution on 31.8.2009.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that in view of Rule 2 (1) of Rules 1998, the year of recruitment vis-a-vis vacancies which are to be notified to the Commission has necessarily to be the Ist July of the year in which the requisition is to be made of the vacancies existing or likely to be