NAOLEKAR, J. - (1.) THE petitioners, who are Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II in the Commercial Taxes Department (for short `the respondent Department'), State of Rajasthan, have challenged in this petition the action of the State Government in not making promotion to the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II for the last so many years as illegal arbitrary and unconstitutional. Further direction sought by the petitioners is for making promotions to the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I under the Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Subordinate Service (General Branch) Rules, 1975 (for short "the Rules of 1975" ).
(2.) IT is the case of the petitioners that they were initially appointed on the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II and are holding requisite qualification prescribed under the relevant Rules for promotion to the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I. In the respondent Department thirty posts of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I. for which budgetary provision is being made, are lying vacant but no promotional exercise is being undertaken by the Department nor anybody has been promoted from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II to Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I. Under the Rules of 1975 the method prescribed for filling up the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II is hundred percent by direct recruitment, out of which 12. 5% posts are reserved to be filled in from amongst the ministerial staff of the respondent Department holding the post in substantive cadre. The post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I is to be filled in hundred percent by promotion from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II. Admittedly, since the promulgation of the Rules of 1975 not a single promotion has been made from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II to the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I. Rather, as per return filed on behalf of the State, the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I is not operational since 1971 although number of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II are eligible under the Rules to be promoted on that post. Promotions are made from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II directly to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer skipping over the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I. In fact, the Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Inspector Association (for short "the Association") has been agitating the matter for the last several years for abolition of the cadre of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I in the Schedule appended to the Rules of 1975. Several representations have been made to the State Government and other authorities seeking formal abolition of the cadre of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I. A representation has been made on 10. 9. 1977 (Annexure A-2) by the Association making a request to the Chief Minister that the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I be abolished. The appointment and promotion on the posts of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I and Gr. II are governed by the Rules of 1975 whereas the recruitment to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer is governed under the different Rules, namely, the Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Service Rules, 1971 (for short "the Rules of 1971" ). As per Schedule-I appended to the Rules of 1971, source of recruitment to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer is 50% by promotion from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspectors and 50% by direct recruitment. Five years' experience on the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector and passing of qualifying examination given in Schedule-II is required to promotion to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer. Schedule-II provides that qualifying examination shall be held at least once every year and employees who are eligible for appointment to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer in the Service by promotion may appear at such Examination: Inspectors who have already passed the said Departmental Examination, shall be deemed to have passed this qualifying examination. Thus under Schedule-II the employee who is eligible to be appointed as Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer can appear in the examination. The Inspector who has passed the Departmental Examination shall be deemed to have passed the qualifying examination. Under the Rules of 1975 promotion to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer, which is the lowest post in the Rules of 1971 (State Service Rules) can be made from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector. The post of Commercial Taxes Inspector has not been defined under the Rules of 1971 to be confined to the Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I alone. Applying the normal dictionary meaning to the phrase `commercial Taxes Inspector' and understanding the same in common parlance the inevitable conclusion would that the Commercial Taxes Inspector would also include the Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II under the Rules of 1975 who would be eligible to be promoted to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer under the Rules of 1971 i. e. from subordinate service to Sate service. A conjoint reading of Schedule-I and Schedule-II makes it clear that post of the Assistant Commercial Taxes Officers can be filled in 50% by promotion from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector. The post of Commercial Taxes Inspector is not subdivided for the purpose of promotion into Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I and Gr. II. The requirement for promotion to the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer is that a candidate must have five years' experience on the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector and must have passed the qualifying examination. The post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer does not fall within the Rules of 1975. Thus, it cannot be said that it is a post which has to be filled in only from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I after promotion on that post from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II.
(3.) APART from this, the fact is that right from the year 1971 no post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I is filled in the respondent Department and promotions have been made on the post of Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer directly from the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. II. Virtually for all practical purposes the respondent Department has considered the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I is a dead letter. Although the State Government has not removed the post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I from the Rules of 1975 but by practice and effect the post is not being made operative from the very inception of the Rules of 1975 and was not given effect. It would be assumed that post of Commercial Taxes Inspector Gr. I is abandoned by the State and is being repealed by implication. For the aforesaid reasons, the petitions fail and are dismissed. However, in the circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs. . ;