SESHADRI Vs. STATE OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these two petitions filed under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, the two petitioners have challenged the legality of the order passed by the State fixing the seniority of respondent 2 above them in the revised second provisional inter-State seniority list and have sought for the issue of a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, direction or order quashing the Government order dated 20 July, 1963 bearing No. GAD 20 IGS 62 placing respondent 2 above C. L. Subba Rao, serial No. 1 in the provisional inter-State seniority list of Assistant Engineers, by which it is done.

(2.) In order to appreciate the arguments addressed before us, it is necessary to set out a few facts which are almost undisputed. E. V. Seshadri, petitioner in Writ Petition No. 1455 of 1963, was appointed as a surveyor in the Public Works Department of the erstwhile State of Mysore in 1941. He was selected as a probationary Assistant Engineer in 1945 and was appointed as an Assistant Engineer on 4 May, 1946. S. K. Hanumantha Reddi, petitioner in Writ Petition No. 1456 of 1963, joined service of the erstwhile State of Mysore as a surveyor on 19 May, 1942. He was also selected as a probationary Assistant Engineer in 1945 and was appointed as an Assistant Engineer in 1946. Respondent 2, S. Neelakantappa, was appointed by the Coorg Government as an Assistant Engineer on 2 April, 1953. He was promoted as an Executive Engineer on 10 August, 1955 and continued to hold the post till the reorganization of the States. Consequent upon the formation of the new State of Mysore all these officers were allotted to the new State of Mysore on 1 November, 1956. After the reorganization of the States, the question of integration of services was taken up by the new State of Mysore (respondent 1) and for the purposes of such integration the State had to determine the equation of the posts and fix up the seniority of the several officers in the respective cadres. According to the circular instructions issued by the Central Government the equation of posts had to be determined having regard to

(3.) After equating the posts the next stage was to determine the relative seniority as between the two persons holding posts declared equivalent to each other and drawn from different States. The criterion for fixing the relative seniority was the length of continuous service whether permanent or temporary in the equated cadre. Respondent 1 prepared what is called the "provisional inter-State seniority list," of the several officers of the Public Works Department allotted to the new State of Mysore by a notification dated 22 March, 1957. The post held by respondent 2 as an Executive Engineer in the Erstwhile State of Coorg was equated to that of an Assistant Engineer of the other areas and his rank in the said list was fixed on the basis of the length of his service in the equivalent cadre. In the said list the name of the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 1455 of 1963 appeared at serial No. 5; that of the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 1456 of 1963 at serial No. 10 while that of respondent 2 appeared at serial No. 210. Respondent 1 called for objections from any Government servant dissatisfied with the above list within fifteen days from the date of its notification in the gazette. The several officers including respondent 2 who were dissatisfied by the equation of the posts and fixation of their seniority filed their objections within the time prescribed. The Central Government being prescribed as the exclusive authority for integration of services under S. 115 of the States Reorganization Act the provisional inter-State seniority list prepared by respondent 1 along with the several objections filed by the Government servants who were dissatisfied with it had to be forwarded to the Government of India for preparation and publication of the final inter-State seniority list. Respondent 1 without adopting such a Course prepared and published what was styled as the "final inter-State seniority list" by a notification dated 13 August, 1960. The name of respondent 2 was omitted in the said list but a note had been annexed to the effect that separate orders will issue regarding his position. In M. A. Jaleel v. State of Mysore [1961 Mys. L.J. 425], this Court held that the authority conferred by S. 115(5) on the Central Government is original authority and that the State Government had no competence to finally determine the integration of services and to prepare and publish a "final inter-State seniority list" and quashed the final inter-State seniority list prepared and published in respect of the officers of the Commercial Tax Department. After the decision in Jaleel case [1961 Mys. L.J. 425] (vide supra), the so-called "final inter-State seniority list" of the Public Works Department prepared and published by the State Government became a nullity.