XAVIER Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in O.P. No. 6776/90 were appointed as Technical Supervisor and Extension Officer respectively in 1973 and 1975. They were promoted as Assistant District Industries Officer in 1981 and 1982 respectively. The first petitioner was promoted as Assistant Director of Industries and Commerce in 1984 and the second petitioner was promoted to the same post in 1985. They were further promoted as Deputy Directors in 1987 and 1989 respectively. The Special Rules issued for the Kerala Industries Service in 1966 govern their promotions. The petitioners are Engineering graduates. The Special Rules, as it stood then, recognised the distinction between Engineering graduates and non Engineering graduates. For an engineering graduate, experience for a period of not less than 3 years was sufficient for getting promotion. At the same time, 4 years experience was prescribed in the case of other degree holders for promotion.

(2.) The Special Rules were amended as per G.O. (P) No. 94/90 / ID dated 20th June 1990, a copy of which has been produced as Ext. P1. R.1(2) of Ext. P1 states that the Special Rules shall come into force at once, and that sub-rules (c) and (d) of R.3 shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of July 1983, sub-r, (b) of R.4 shall be deemed to have come into force on the 31st day of January 1977 and notes under category 2 of Class V of Branch I of Appendix shall be deemed to have into force on the 1st day of July 1983.

(3.) The offending amendment is to R.3(c) and 4(b). The above two pro visions are extracted below for easy reference: