- (1.) The petitioners, who are the members of Uttar Pradesh Development Authorities Centralized Service Cadre and are presently working as Joint Secretaries in different Development Authorities in the State of Uttar Pradesh, have preferred this writ petition for being aggrieved of the order dated 14.08.2013 whereby, the Secretary to the Government in its Housing and Urban Planning Department has rejected their representation for consideration of their case for promotion to the post of Secretary/Additional Secretary in the Development Authorities.
(2.) A short point as regards the availability of promotional post and mode of its filling up is involved in the present matter. The factual aspects are otherwise not much in dispute. In brief, the relevant aspects could be noticed in the following: After enactment of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as ''the Act'/ 'the Act of 1973') and its amendment in the year 1985, the State Government promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Development Authorities Centralized Services Rules, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'/ 'the Rules of 1985') for the purpose of providing for the staff and creation of centralized service of the Development Authorities established thereunder. The relevant provisions in Sections 5(1) and 5-A (1) of the Act could be noticed as under:- "5. Staff of the Authority: (1) The State Government may appoint two suitable persons respectively as the Secretary and the Chief Accounts Officer of the Authority who shall exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed by regulations or delegated to them by the Authority or its Vice-Chairman. ....... ...... ....." "5-A. Creation of Centralised Services:- (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Section 5 or in any other law for the time being in force, the State Government may at any time, by notification create one or more 'Development Authorities Centralised Services' for such posts, other than the posts mentioned in sub-section (4) of Section 59, as the State Government may deem fit, common to all the Development Authorities, and may prescribe the manner and conditions of recruitment to, and the terms and conditions of service of person appointed to such service. ....... ...... ....."
(3.) In the Rules of 1985, as originally promulgated, the relevant posts were specified in Rule 3 and the method of recruitment in Rule 8 read with Schedule I thereof. The relevant parts of these provisions could be noticed as under:- "xxx xxx xxx;