(1.) These are connected writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution. They raise common questions of law and fact. Hence they can be considered in a common judgment.
(2.) In these petitions, the petitioners who are serving as Enquiry Cum Reservation Clerks in the Northern Railway, seek the following reliefs :
(3.) The railway Board-by its communication No. E(NG) 63 PMI- 52 dated February 29, 1964, to the General Managers, All India Railways, prescribed a channel of promotion for Enquiry Cum Reservation Clerks, who uptil then had no channel of promotion. That letter conveyed the following decision of the Railway Board: