G.C.MATHUR, J. - (1.) THESE two writ petitions are directed aga­inst the selection and appointments of 22 Section Officers in the general office of this High Court. Writ Petition No. 7 of 1976 has been filed by three Upper Division Assistants who were considered but were not selected for the posts. This petition is based mainly on the ground that the selection and appointments were not made by the Registrar, as required by the Allahabad High Court (Conditions of Service of Staff) Rules, 1946. Writ petition No. 213 of 1976 has been filed by 40 Bench Secretaries mainly on the ground that they were eligible for the selection and appointments but were not even considered.
(2.) THERE were 13 posts of Superintendents and 5 posts of Assistant Superintendents in the office of the High Court. In October, 1971 these posts were re-designated as those of Section Officers Grade 1 and Section Officers Grade II respectively. In May, 1975, the High Court wrote to the Government, pointing out that, on account of the increase in the work, at least 45 Section Officers were needed and re quested that additional posts of 27 more Section Officers be sanctioned By letter dated October 22, 1975, the Government sanctioned 22 more posts of Section Officers. By the same letter the posts of Section Officers Grade I and Section Officers Grade II were merged into one grade of Section Officers. These 22 posts were required to be filled by promotion. Rule 8 of the Allahabad High Court (Conditions of Service of Staff) Rules 1946 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) deals with promotion to certain posts and reads thus: - "8. Promotion shall ordinarily be confined to members of the respective departments of the office and shall ordinarily be made according to seniority. An official may receive special promo­tion for recognised merit irrespective of the grade to which he may belong or of his seniority within the grade."
(3.) RULE 9 deals with promotion to posts of responsibility etc. It enumerates 31 posts, including posts of Superintendents in the various departments, and provides that promotion to these posts of responsi­bility or trust or which require special qualifications shall be made by selection irrespective of seniority. Rule 10, which is also rele­vant for the purposes of these cases, reads thus: - "10. Promotion to the posts of Deputy Registrar and Assistant Registrar shall be made by the Chief Justice in his discretion, promotion to posts mentioned in Rule 9 shall be made by the Re­gistrar by selection and promotion to all other posts shall be made by the Registrar by transfer from one department of the office to another in accordance with these rules subject to any general or special orders passed by the Chief Justice. Provided that the post of Deputy Registrar and the post of Assistant Registrar at Allahabad shall ordinarily be filled in by promotion from amongst persons serving on the staff attached to the Court." In anticipation of the sanction of the Government for additional posts of Section Officers, steps were taken for making the selection.;