(1.) Writ Petition No. 1857 of 1969 filed by Jagdish Narain Kashyap and Writ Petition No. 1981 of 1969 filed by Om Prakash Misra were heard together and are disposed of by this common judgment as the two petitions raise common questions of law.
(2.) Both Kashyap and Misra were Skilled Fitters in the Northern Railway and were in due course selected for the posts of Train Examiners (referred to the records of the cases as TXR).
(3.) The posts of Train Examiners are in four grades : grade A, grade B, grade C and grade D. We are concerned in these petitions with grade C, carrying a pay scale of Rs. 205-280, and grade D on a pay scale of Rs. 180-240. Originally, recruitment to grade D Train Examiners was made by promotion of skilled artisans (which expression included Skilled Fitters as well as Khalasis) and by direct recruitment. The direct recruits were to serve an apprenticeship for four years before becoming eligible for appointment as grade D Train Examiners; during the period of apprenticeship they were designated as apprentice Train Examiners fifty per cent of grade D Train Examiners were open for promotion while the remaining fifty per cent of these posts were filled by apprentice Train Examiners. The skilled artisans selected for promotion as grade D Train Examiners had to undergo one year's Special Intensive Training Course before appointment as Train Examiners but the practice appears to have been to appoint the Train Examiners in local arrangements even before they were sent for the Special Intensive Training Course.