(1.) On the reorganisation of States on November 1, 1956 the respondent who was working as an Agricultural Overseer in the then State of Madhya Pradesh was allocated first to the State of Bombay and later to the State of Maharashtra. By a resolution dated February 17, 1958 the Government of Bombay equated the post of Agricultural Overseer with that of an Agricultural Assistant, Grade II. In July 1958 the respondent was promoted as an Agricultural Supervisor and in April 1967 he was appointed to the post of an Agricultural Officer.
(2.) On the reorganisation of States, a provisional combined seniority list of Agricultural Assistants, Grade II, was published by the Government of Maharashtra in 1961. That list was revised from time to time, and ultimately the Government of India approved the final seniority list which came to be published on May 29, 1973. The respondent has no grievance against his placement in that list, but his case is that under the seniority lists prepared from time to time by the State Government he was erroneously accorded a lower place of seniority with the result that persons who were in fact junior to him came to be promoted on the assumption that they were senior to him. The respondent therefore filed the present writ petition on October 14, 1970 asking for due recognition of his seniority. He later amended that petition and asked for arrears of pay and allowances retrospectively from the date on which he ought to have been promoted in accordance with the seniority list approved by the Central Government. The writ petition having been allowed by the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, the State of Maharashtra has filed this appeal by special leave.
(3.) The sole question which arises for determination in this appeal is whether the respondent is entitled to arrears of pay with effect from the date on which he would, in the normal course, have been promoted if his seniority were recognised as it eventually came to be recognised under the seniority list approved by the Central Government in 1973. The answer to this question depends on whether the rights of the respondent are governed by the circular dated March 10, 1960 or by the circular dated February 25, 1965. The case of the State Government is that the former, and not the latter circular, applies whereas the respondent contends that he is entitled to arrears of salary for the entire period under the latter circular.