BHAGWATI - (1.) THE short question that arises for consideration in these petitions is as to the validity of the equation of posts of graduate teachers allotted to the new State of Mysore constituted under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. This Act re-drew the boundaries of the different States in India with effect from 1/11/1956 and inter alia a new State of Mysore was formed comprising the territories of the existing States of Mysore and Coorg, four districts in the existing State of Bombay, three districts in the existing State of Hyderabad and one district in the existing State of Madras. Prior to the reorganisation, each of these five integrating areas, which went to make up the new State of Mysore, had a different set up of school administration. THE schools in the Mysore and Coorg areas were classified into Primary schools, Middle schools and High schools. In the Bombay and Madras areas, the schools were classified into Primary schools and Secondary Schools and in the Hyderabad area the classification was into Primary schools, Middle schools and composite schools. THE Secondary schools in the Bombay and Madras areas and the composite schools in the Hyderabad area comprised the same classes as the Middle schools and High schools in the Mysore and Coorg areas. THE posts of teachers in these schools were inter-changeable with the posts in the Inspectorate Branch of the Education Department and the training Institutions and they belonged to common cadres. We shall, for the sake of convenience, refer to the persons occupying the posts of teachers in these schools as also the persons occupying corresponding posts in the Inspectorate Branch and the Training Institution as "graduate teachers''. THEse petitions are concerned only with graduate teachers so described and, therefore, we shall confine our discussion to them alone.
(2.) THE graduate teachers in each of the five integrating areas were divided into two grades, a lower grade and a higher grade and the pay scales of these two grades differed from one integrating area to the other as shown by the following particulars: JUDGEMENT_203_4_1975Html1.htm THEre was also one post of Principal, Janata College in the Coorg area prior to the reorganisation which carried a pay scale of Rs. 200-300. This was a college started on an experimental basis under the Five Year Plan and the post of Principal was created as a temporary post under a Government Order dated 7/03/1955. On the constitution of the new State of Mysore by coming together of these five integrating areas, a question arose as to how the graduate teachers allotted to the new State of Mysore from these five integrating areas should be adjusted so as to form an integrated service in the new State of Mysore and it was, therefore, necessary to decide where and at what place they should be adjusted in the constitution of the new service. This process necessarily involved equation of posts, absorption of service personnel in the equated posts and the determination of inter se seniority. Now, this was not a problem confined to one service or one State alone and principles had, therefore, to be evolved which would be uniformly applicable in relation to integration of services in all the States which were going to be affected by the reorganisation. A meeting of the Chief Secretaries of these States was accordingly held at Delhi on 18th and 19/05/1956 at the invitation of the Central Government. Certain decisions were taken at this meeting as to the general principles that should be observed with regard to the work of integration of the services. The Government of India, by their letter dated 3rd April l957, informed the State Governments that they had decided that the work of integration of services should be dealt with by the State Governments in the light of general principles already decided at the meeting, of the Chief Secretaries. The State Governments were also informed that the Central Government was constituting Advisory Committees for assisting them in dealing with the representations by the officers affected by the reorganisation. The principles for determining equation of posts and inter se seniority of allocated Government servants reached at the conference of the Chief Secretaries were as follows: "It was agreed that in determining the equation of posts, the following factors should be borne in mind: (i) the nature and duties of a post; (ii) the responsibilities end powers exercised by the officer holdings a post; the extent of territorial or other charge held or responsibilities discharged; (iii) the minimum qualifications, if any, prescribed for recruitment to the post (iv) the salary of the post; It was agreed that in determining relative seniority as between two persons holding posts declared equivalent to each other, and drawn from different States, the following points should be taken into account: (i) Length of continuous service, whether temporary or permanent, in a particular grade; this should exclude periods for which an appointment is held in a purely stop-gap or fortuitous arrangement; (ii) age of the person; other factors being equal, for instance, seniority may be determined on the basis of age. Note: It was also agreed that as far as possible, the inter se seniority of officers drawn from the same State should not be disturbed." Though these principles were laid down as far back as 18th and 19/05/1956, long prior to the reorganisation, neither the Central Government nor the State Government took any steps for the purpose of determining the equation of posts of graduate teachers and their inter se seniority. On 3/02/1958, the Director of Public Instruction circulated a Provisional Inter State List of teachers in the graduate tutorial cadre and this list was prepared on the basis that the posts of ex-Hyderabad teachers in the grade of Rs. 154-275 were equated with those of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 130-200, while the posts of ex-Coorg teachers in the grade of Rs. 100-300 were equated with those of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 60-150. Presumably, on the assumption that this list would be finalised at an early date by the Central Government, the State Government made temporary promotions to Class II Gazetted posts on the basis of this list and some of the ex-Hyderabad teachers in the grade of Rs. 154-275 were consequently promoted to Class II Gazetted posts and out of them a few were even promoted to Class I posts in an officiating capacity. So far as the Coorg teachers in the grade of Rs. 100-300 were concerned, they were dissatisfied with the equation of their posts with these of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 60-150 and they ac- cordingly challenged this list by filing Writ Petition No. 603 of 1961 in the High Court of Mysore. One of the contentions raised by them was that this list circulated by the Director of Public Instruction had no validity, since the power to determine equation of posts and inter se seniority of allocated teachers in the graduate tutorial cadre was vested in the State Government and the State Government should, therefore,. be directed to prepare a provisional Inter State Seniority list in accordance with the requirements of the Act. This contention was upheld by a Division Bench of the High Court by a judgment dated 12/06/1964, and the State Government was directed to prepare a provisional Inter State seniority list of teachers in the graduate tutorial cadre. Pursuant to this direction of the High Court the State Government prepared a Provisional Inter State Seniority List and published it under a notification dated 2/07/1964. This Provisional Inter State Seniority List was based on equation of posts set out in Annexure II to the List. The posts of ex-Hyderabad teachers in the grade of Rs. 154-275 and the posts of ex-Coorg teachers in the grade of Rs. 100-300 as also the post of Principal, Janatha College in the grade of Rs. 200-300 were equated with the posts of ex-Bombay teachers in the grade of Rs. 210-300, the posts of ex-Madras teachers in the grade of Rs. 165-245 and the posts of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 130-200, while the posts of ex-Hyderabad teachers in the grade of Rs. 130-190 and the posts of ex-Coorg teachers in the grade of Rs. 80-220 were equated with the posts of ex-Bombay teachers in the grade of Rs. 70-200, the posts of ex-Madras teachers in the grade of Rs. 85-175 and the posts of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 60-150. It was on the basis of this equation of posts that the seniority of teachers in the graduate tutorial cadre was determined under the Provisional Inter State Seniority List published by the State Government. The petitioners in Writ Petition No. 12 of 1972 (hereafter referred to as the ex-Hyderabad petitioners) are all graduates of recognised universities and they also hold the degree of B.T. or B. Ed. and are accordingly trained graduate teachers. The ex-Hyderabad petitioners were originally appointed in the erstwhile State of Hyderabad in posts in the grade of Rs. 130-190 end subsequently in course of time they were promoted strictly in accordance with the principle of seniority-cum-merit to the grade of Rs. 154-275 on various dates before 1/11/1956. The ex-Hyderabad petitioners were thus in the grade of Rs. 154-275 at the time of the reorganisation when they were allocated to the new State of Mysore from the ex-Hyderabad area. Since the posts held by the ex-Hyderabad petitioners were equated with those of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 130-200 under Annexure II to the Provisional Inter State Seniority List and their seniority vis-a-vis the other allocated teachers was determined on the basis of such equation of posts, they did not have any grievance with the Provisional Inter State Seniority List, and they accordingly did not make any representation to the State or Central Government against it.
(3.) THE petitioners in Writ Petition No. 149 of 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the ex-Coorg petitioners) are also graduates of recognised universities and hold the degree of B.T. or B.Ed. and are trained graduate teachers. Out of them, petitioners Nos. l to 3 were originally appointed in the grade of Rs. 80-220 but on obtaining the degree of B.T. they were promoted to the grade of Rs. 100-300. Petitioners Nos. 4 to 15 were trained graduates directly appointed in the grade of Rs. 100-300. Petitioners Nos. 16 to 27 were originally appointed in the grade of Rs. 80-220, but they subsequently obtained the degree of B.T. and were accordingly promoted to the grade of Rs. 100-300. And similarly, petitioners Nos. 28 to 33 were originally appointed in the grade of Rs. 80-220 as untrained graduates but on obtaining the degree of B.T. they were promoted in the grade of Rs. 100-300. THE ex-Coorg petitioners were thus all in the grade of Rs. 100-300 at the time of the reorganisation when they were allocated to the new State of Mysore from the ex-Coorg area. THEy also did not make any representation against the Inter State Provisional Seniority List published by the State Government as the posts held by them were equated with those of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 130-200 and they were satisfied with that equation and the inter se seniority based upon it. The State Government thereafter by a notification dated 27/12/1965 published the Final Inter-State Seniority List of teachers in the graduate tutorial cadre in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution and in accordance with the decision of the Government of India under the provision of Section 115 (5) of the Act. The ex-Hyderabad and the ex-Coorg petitioners were surprised to find that this Final Inter State Seniority List was based on an equation of posts which was different from the one proposed in the Provisional Inter State Seniority List. The Final Inter State Seniority List classified the posts of teachers into three cadres, the first being. promotional cadre, the second being intermediate cadre and the third being initial recruitment cadre. The posts of ex-Bombay teachers in the grade of Rs. 120-300, the posts of ex-Madras teachers in the grade of Rs. 165-245, the posts of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 130-200 and the post of Principal, Janatha College in the grade of Rs. 200-300 were equated and placed in promotional cadre, while the posts of ex-Hyderabad teachers in the grade of Rs. 150-275 as well as the grade of Rs. 130-190 and the post of ex-Coorg teachers in the grade of Rs. 110-300 as well as the grade of Rs. 80-220 were equated with the posts of ex-Bombay teachers in the grade of Rs. 70-200, the posts of ex-Madras teachers in the grade of Rs. 85-175 and the posts of ex-Mysore teachers in the grade of Rs. 60-150 and placed in the initial recruitment cadre. The result of this equation of posts was that the ex-Hyderabad petitioners who were in the grade of Rs. 154-275 and the ex-Coorg petitioners who were in the grade of Rs. 100-300 were pushed down in seniority by hundreds of places and their future prospects of promotion were seriously prejudiced.;