VASANT KRISHNARAO PATURKAR Vs. D R MAJRAMKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Bombay of 9th December, 1971, in Special Civil Application (S.C.A.) No. 1354 of 1970 under Article 226 of the Constitution. The appellants and the first nineteen respondents and respondents 23 to 24 are at present the employees in the Agriculture Department of the State of Maharashtra following reorganisation of State on 1st November, 1956.

(2.) Respondents 1 to 19 were the original petitioners in S.C.A. No. 1354 of 1970. They were officers from the former Hyderabad State prior to the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, (briefly called the Act). They prayed in their said application for a writ to set aside the Bombay Government's Resolutions of 17th February, 1958 and 16th May, 1969 and the provisional gradation list of 27th September, 1969 and the promotion orders of 5th and 6th June, 1970 and other consequential reliefs. They had impleaded in the said application five respondents, the first two being the State of Maharashtra and the Director of Agriculture, Maharashtra and the remaining three respondents were the three Agricultural Officers impleaded in a representative capacity by leave of the High Court under Order 1, Rule 8, Civil Procedure Code. These respondents (Nos. 3 to 5) did not appear to contest the application in the Bombay High Court and it is alleged that they had no interest in the matter and were in collusion with the appellants. Even the first two respondents, namely, the State of Maharashtra and the Director of Agriculture, went by default, although a belated prayer to enter appearance had been made through counsel on behalf of the State of Maharashtra after commencement of arguments on the day of final hearing which was, however, rejected by the High Court. The application was then disposed of, ex parte, on merits by the High Court in favour of the applicants. It is not disputed that the order of the High Court directly affects the interests of the present appellants, who are Agricultural Officers from the Madhya Pradesh region.

(3.) From Bombay we may now turn to the Nagpur Bench of the said High Court. There the appellant No. 1 and three other Agricultural Officers lodged a Special Civil Application No. 361 of 1964 impleading the State of Maharashtra and 88 other respondents, including the present respondents 1 to 19. Respondents 1 to 19 and others contested the application before the Nagpur Bench unsuccessfully. The Nagpur Bench of the High Court allowed the Writ application by its judgment and order dated 6th December, 1967 and the operative part of the same may be quoted: