The petitioners, who are Section Officers in the office of the Accountant General I, II and III, Allahabad, have filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution for restraining the respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 3 from promoting respondent No. 4, 5 and 6 who are also working as Section Officers and belong to the Scheduled Castes, to the post of Accounts Officers.

The petitioners case is that they are senior to respondents Nos. 4, 5 and 6 and they cannot be promoted to the posts of Accounts Officers, through seniority quota, before the petitioners. The promotion to the posts of Accounts Officers is regulated by the rules made by the President in exercise of powers conferred by proviso to Article 309 and clause (5) of Article 148 of the Constitu tion, after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. These rules are known as indian Audit & Accounts Department (Administra tive Officers, Assistant Accounts Officers, and Assistant Audit Officers) Recruit ment Rules, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules ). A copy of these rules has been annexed as C. A. I, to the counter-affidavit of Shri P. P. Dhir, Account ant General U. P. I, Allahabad. These rules were amended in 1965. A true copy of these Amending Rules has been annexed as Annexure C. A. II to the counter-affidavit. It has been stated in the counter-affidavit that the Assistant Accounts Officers and Assistant Audit Officers are now called accounts Officers and Audit Officers. These rules lay down the method of recruitment to the posts of Administrative Officers, Assistant Accounts Officers and Assistant Audit Officers (now called as Accounts Officers and Audit Officers) in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. The method of recruitment laid down in these rules in respect of these posts is by promotion. They do not contain any specific provsion for reservation, for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The respondents relied upon the administrative instructions contained in circular letter issued dated 25th January, 1973 issued by Comptroller and Auditor General of India for purposes of reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in these promotion posts. A true copy of the said circular is

annexed as C. A. III to the counter-affidavit. The petitioners challenges the validity of these administrative instructions contained in this circular letter dated 25th of January, 1973.

The lowest post in the office of the Accountant General U. P. I, II and III is of Group d employees who are selected directly on the basis of merit. There is a quota fixed for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Then there are posts of clerks, a fixed persentage of which is filled in directly through examination and a quota is fixed for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The remaining posts are filled in by selection from class d employees by promo tion on tae basis of seniority. The next higher posts are the posts of Auditors, a fixed percentage whereof is filled in directly through examination and a quota is fixed for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The remaining posts of the Auditors are filled in by promotion from clerks on the basis of seniority. The next higher post is of Section Officer in which the petitioners and the respon dents nos. 4, 5 and 6 are working. These posts are filled in from the cadres of Auditors and clerks. The auditors as well as clerks have to pass examination known as Subordinate Accounts Service Normally more candidates pass this examination than the number of posts available for the Section Officers. Here also there is a quota fixed for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes candidates.

As already mentioned the posts of Accounts Officers are filled in by pro motion from Section Officers. 50 per cent of vacancies are required to be filled in on the basis of merit, (called the merit quota) and the remaining 50 per cent posts are required to be filled on the basis of seniority (called seniority quota ). Norm