Hon’ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, C.J.—The present reference to the Full Bench was made by a learned Single Judge of this Court on 20 December 2006; the issue referred for adjudication being as follows:

“Which date will be relevant for the purpose of determination of criteria of availability and eligibility for promotion to the post of Lecturer grade i.e. the date on which vacancy occurs to forward to the Selection Committee/Commission or the first day of year of the recruitment when the vacancy is notified for recruitment?”

2. The Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education (Services Selection Board) Act, 1982 established a Board for the selection of teachers in institutions recognised under the Intermediate Education Act, 1921. The Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the introduction of the Bill in the State Legislature furnished the following rationale for the constitution of a statutory Board:

“The appointment of teachers in secondary institutions recognised by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education was governed by the Intermediate Education Act, 1921 and regulations made thereunder. It was felt that the selection of teachers under the provisions of the said Act and the regulations was some times not free and fair. Besides, the field of selection was also very much restricted. This adversely affected the availability of suitable teachers and the standard of education. It was therefore, considered necessary to constitute Secondary Education Service Commission at the State level, to select Principals, Lecturers, Head-masters and L.T. Grade teachers, and Secondary Education Selection Boards at the regional level, to select and make available suitable candidates for comparatively lower posts in C.T./J.T.C./B.T.C. Grade for such institutions.”

Section 2 (l) defines the ‘year of recruitment’ as follows:

“(l) ‘Year of recruitment’ means a period of twelve months commencing from first day of July of a calendar year”.

3. Section 10 provides for the procedure to be followed for making selections by direct recruitment and is to the following effect:

“10. Procedure of selection by direct recruitment.—(1) For the purpose of making appointment of a teacher, by direct recruitment, the management shall determine the number of vacancies existing or likely to fall vacant during the year of recruitment and in the case of a post other than the post of Head of the Institution, also the number of vacancies to be reserved for the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes of citizens in accordance with the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994 and notify the vacancies to the Board in such manner and through such officer or authority as may be prescribed.

(2) The procedure of selection of candidates for direct recruitment to the post of teachers shall be such as may be prescribed:

Provided that the Board shall, with a view to inviting talented persons, give wide publicity in the State to the vacancies notified under sub-section (1).”

4. Under Section 11, on the notification of a vacancy under sub-section (1) of Section 10, the Board is required to hold examinations, where necessary, and interviews of the candidates and to prepare a panel of those found most suitable for appointment. The Board forwards the panel under sub-section (2) to an officer or authority referred to in sub-section (1) of Section 10. Such an officer or authority, in turn, has to intimate the names of the selected candidates to the Management of the Institution and the Management is obliged within a period of one month to issue a letter of appointment to the selected candidates (Section 11 (4).

5. Chapter III of the Act deals with the procedure for selection by promotion. Section 12, which is a part of Chapter III, is in the following terms:

“12. Procedure of selection by promotion.—(1) For each region, there shall