STATE OF MYSORE Vs. P N NANJUNDIAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is brought by special leave from the judgment of the Mysore High court, dated the 15/07/1963 in writ petition No. 1114 of 1963.

(2.) The respondent No. 1 joined service in the government central Press, Bangalore as a Compositor in the year 1941. He was promoted as a Computer in 1945. On 1/07/1950 he was deputed to work in the central Jail Press, Bangalore as officiating Foreman. On 13/11/1967 the Mysore public service commission selected respondent No. 1 as a Foreman. Thereafter he was relieved from his post as Foreman in the central Jail Press and he joined government central Press on 5/12/1957 as Foreman. Two posts of Overseer fell, vacant in the government central Press on 1/12/1961. Out of these two posts one was being reserved to be filled up by promotion. The case of the first respondent was that he should have been promoted to this post in preference to the second respondent who joined service as a Work Clerk on 20/04/1955. The second respondent was promoted as an Overseer by Office Order No. 394/61- 62, dated the 21st of November, 1961. The first respondent was promoted as Supervisor by Office Order No. 727/62-63, dated 29/03/1963. The first respondent made several representations to the government regarding the promotion of respondent No. 2, but no satisfactory reply was given. Thereafter respondent No. 1 filed a writ petition in the Mysore High -Court praying for the grant of a writ of certiorari to quash the Office Order No. 727/62-63, dated 29/03/1963 issued by the appellant promotion the second respondent as Supervisor and also the Office Order No. 394/61-62, dated 21/11/1961 promoting the second respondent as Overseer with effect from 1/12/1963. The writ petition was opposed by the appellants. It was said that the respondent No. 1 was not entitled to promotion as he had been working as a Foreman in the central Jail Press which post was not borne on the cadre of the Printing Department and his service as officiating Foreman in the central Jail Press could not be counted for the purpose of promotion. According to the appellants respondent No. 1 was not eligible for promotion according to rules, as he has not put in five years service in the Department and there was no question of any violation of a statutory rule. By its judgment, dated 2/08/1964 the Highcourt allowed the writ petition filed by respondent No. 1 and issued a writ of mandamus to the appellants directing them "to promote respondent No. 1 as an Overseer with effect from 1/12/1961 and as a Supervisor with effect from 1/4/1963 and to give him all consequential benefits".

(3.) It was contended on behalf of the appellants that in computing the length of service of respondent NO. l as Foreman his service as Foreman in the central Jail Press could not be taken into consideration and it that service is left out respondent No. 1 had not the required qualification on December 1, 1961 for being promoted as an Overseer. In other words the argument was that the respondent No. 1 was not promoted because he did not possess the requisite qualification. In our opinion there is no justification for this argument. Mysore General Service (Printing, Stationery and Publications Branch) Cadre and Recruitment Rules, 1950 framed under Article 309 of the Constitution provide that the posts of Overseers should be filled up partly by direct recruitment and partly by promotion. 50% of the posts is reserved for promotees from the cadre of Foreman and the other 50% is available for direct recruitment. The qualifications prescribed for the promotees are: (l) passion all the Higher Grade Examinations in printing (Madras) or a Diploma in printing and allied subjects ; (2) five years service as Foreman in the Department. It is not disputed that the respondent No. 1 possessed on the relevant date the first of two qualifications. The question for determination is whether on that date respondent No. 1 had five years service as a Foreman in the Department. If the service of respondent No. 1 as a Foreman in the Press attached to the central Jail is taken into consideration there is no dispute that respondent No. 1 was qualified to be promoted as an Overseer on 1/12/1961. But it was urged on behalf of the appellants that the service cannot be taken into consideration as it was not the service rendered "within the Department" in other words, in the Department of Printing, Stationery and Publications. It is not possible to accept this argument because it is apparent from the Mysore Jail Service Cadre Recruitment Rules, 1960 that the post of Foreman attached to the central Jail Press is required to be filled up by deputation from the government Press and the officer recruited has to be borne on the cadre of the Printing, Stationery and Publications Branch though he was deputed at the same time to serve in the Department of. Mysore Jail Services. Rule 53 (r) (t) of the Mysore Service Rules provides as follows :