- (1.) M. Katju, J This writ petition has been filed against the impugned judgment of the Central Administrative Tribunal dated 6-11-97 (Annexure 11 to the peti tion) praying for a mandamus directing the respondents to consider the up gradation of the petitioners to the post of Super intendent of Central Excise on the basis of their total length of service in the depart ment disregarding the seniority list prepared by the department.
(2.) WE have heard learned Counsel for the parties. The petitioners are all Inspec tors in the Central Excise Department who were appointed prior to 2-8-82 as stated in paragraph 2 of the writ petition. It appears that the Ministry of Finance, Government of India issued a letter dated 10-9-96 (Annexure 1 to the petition) ad dressed to all the Heads of Department under the Central Board of Excise and Customs and conveyed the sanction for up gradation of 716 posts of Inspectors to the post of Superintendent in various Central Excise Departments. Thereafter the Central Government issued a letter dated 23-7-96 to all the Commissioners of the Central Excise mentioning the manner in which the up gradation is to be done. The petitioners have urged that they were entitled to be appointed against the upgraded post of Superintendent on the basis of their length of service but instead their juniors have been appointed Super intendents whereas the petitioners have remained as Inspectors. The petitioners contention is that the entire service as Inspector is to be seen and not merely the length of service at the place of posting. The petitioners filed a petition before the Central Administrative Tribunal which was dismissed by the impugned order and hence this petition. We have perused the impugned order as well as the writ petition, counter-affidavit and rejoinder- affidavit. In paragraph 5 to the counter-af fidavit it is stated that under the relevant Rules the seniority of Inspectors of Central Excise is Collectorate-wise (now Commissioner wise) vide Rule 5 of the Central Excise and Land Customs Depart ment Group-C Posts Recruitment Rules 1979. The said rule read as follows : "5 (1)-Special provision regarding Collec-torate-Each Collectorate shall have its own separate cadre unless otherwise prescribed by the Central Board of Excise and Customs. "
(3.) IT appears that the petitioners re quested for change of their Collectorate and their transfer to a different cadre. This was granted on the condition that they would be placed at the bottom in seniority list in the new cadre after the change of their cadre, and they accepted this condi tion. Learned Counsel for the petitioners have urged that the petitioners are not being treated as eligible for ap pointment on the upgraded post of Super intendent. Learned Counsel for the respondents have, however, denied this and have urged that the petitioners are being treated as eligible but in accordance with the letter of the Central Government dated 23-7-96 (Annexure 2 to the petition), the appointments on the upgraded posts of Superintendent is being done on the basis of seniority. A perusal of the order dated 23-7-96 shows that Note 1 at the bottom of this order states "the above statement should be certified to be correct according to the seniority list and should be in order as appearing in the seniority list. ";