B C GEORGE Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are I grade Draftsmen of the Public Health Engineering Department. Under the Special Rules for the. Kerala Public Health Engineering Subordinate Services, brought into force from 1966 and amended in 1969, vacancies in the next higher post of Junior Engineer (now called Asst. Engineer) are to be filled up by direct recruitment of Engineering graduates, and by promotion of I Grade Draftsmen in service, in the ratio of 6 : 4. Among the draftsmen in service, there are holders of diploma and certificates, and the promotion quota available for them has to be divided in the ratio of 3 : 1. Thus, out of every ten vacancies, six go to graduates, three to diploma holders, and only one goes to the certificate holder. Further, while the diploma holder can get promoted after two years of service, a minimum service of five years is required for the certificate holder.

(2.) By Ext. P1 dated 16-11-1979 Government ordered that sixteen Draftsmen I Grade be promoted as Junior Engineers into vacancies earmarked for direct recruitment. The idea was apparently to cure some deficiencies which had arisen prior to 1966, in the matter of working out the promotion quota, in accordance with orders then in force. By the same order, it was also directed that as and when these 16 persons retired or were promoted, the resultant vacancies were to be restored to the direct recruits.

(3.) The first point raised on behalf of the petitioners is about the validity of the latter direction in Ext. P1; it is contended that those 16 vacancies should have been treated as permanently allotted for the promotees. The second contention is that the Special Rules, in so far as they provide for a ratio of 3:1 between diploma holders and certificate holders in the matter of promotion, are discriminatory.