AMARJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA versus THE STATE OF PUNJAB & ORS.

AMARJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA

THE STATE OF PUNJAB & ORS.

December 20, 1974

[K, K. MATHEW, P. N. BHAGWATI AND N. L, UNTWALIA, JJ.]

Civil Service-llltegration of two services-Memorandum issued by Govern-ment fixing inter se seniority-"Colltinuous Service" and "date of appolntmem" meaning of,

With effect from 15th July, 1964 the Provincial Civil Medical Service and the Public: lkalth Service of the State were integrated into one service. After integration, class I and class II posts in the respective services before integration were equated lo class I and 11 posts in the combined cadre. While the post of District Medical Officer corresponded to class II in the combined cadre the post of Assistant Director of Health corresponded to class I in the combined cadre. Before integra\ion the State Government by its order dated April 8, 1964 promoted with immediate 'effect respondents 3 to 19 who were c:lass n officer in the Provincial Medical Service to class I but since the order could not be convei1ed to them 1mmeaia1ely, they j01ned their posts on di.fferent dates between April 27, 1964 and May J 1, 1964. At the time of integration the appellant, class II officer, though working in the post of Assistant Director with effect from April 25, J 964, was not promoted to that post but was merely working in that post on his own pay scale as District Medical officer of Health. His r•::presentation that he should be promoted to the post of Ai;sistant Director with retrospecive effect from April 25, 1964 since he was working in that post was considered by the State Government and he was allowed to ·:ontinue in that post on the dale of integration. He was absorbed in class I post but his place in the combined cadre was b~Iow that of respondents 3 to 19.

For the purpose of determining inter se seniority of officers belong.ing to the two services the State Government issued memorandum on October 25, 1965, clause (2)(ii) of which stated that seniority of Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors on the cadte of the Public Health' on integration in PCMS-I should be !ermined with reference to the length of continuous service from the date of appointment in the group subject to the condition that the seniority of person in parent seniority list will not be disturbed.

The appellant claimed that on the basis of the principle laid down in clause 2(ii) of the office memorandum he was entitled to seniority over rnspon· dents 3 to 19 because his continuous servir.e started from April 25, 1964 while that of respondents 3 to 19 •started only after that date. The State Govern-ment rejected this claim of the appellant and issued orders that the seniority of respondents 3 to 19 should be reckoned from the date of their appoini:ment namely. April 8, 1964.

In petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution single Judge of the High Court ac:epted this contention of the appellant that he was senior to -respondents 3 to 19 and allowed the writ petition. On appeal the division bench held that the memorandum dated October 25, 1965 laid down th[0 ]prin-ciple determining seniority only for Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors in the Public Health Service on integration in PGMS in Class I and did not provide as to how seniority of medical officers already in the Provincial Civil Medical Service Class I shall be determined vis-a-vis Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors on integration. The High Court upheld the order of the Government determining that the seniority of respondents 3 to 19 shal'I be reckoned from the date of the order of appointment, namely, AFril 8, 1964 Irrespective as to when they assumed charge of their hip )IOSts.

On appeal to this Court it was contended that continuous service in . post could commence only when the incumbent took. .;barge of the post and not

earlier. a~d os suc,h respondents 3 to 19 who took charge after the appellant were 111nior to him. The State on the other hand contended thM it was competent to it to fix an assumed date on which the continuous service of respondents 3 to 19' shall be deemed to have commenced for the purpose of determining seniority in the integrated service.

Dismissing the appeal,

· HELD : (I) On proper interpretation of clause 2 (ii) of the memoran• dum dated Oiotob~r 25. 1965 the principle of length of continuous service from the ~ate of appointmelll was applicable to otlicers coming from both the ·services for the purpose of fixing their inter se seniority in the integrated service. [880)

(2) Jt was competent to the Stat; Government to issue cl. (2){ii) of the memorandum dated October 25, 1965 in exercise of its executive power. It is well-setted that where no statutory rules are made regulating recruitment or conditions of service, the State' Government always ca·n. in exercise of its executive power, issue administrative instructions providing for recruitment and laying down conditions of service. [88E,f] ·

B. N. Nagaraja11 v. State of Mysore [1966) 3 S.C.R. 682 and Sant 'Ram Sharma v. 9tate of Rajastha11 & A11r. [1968] 1 S.C.R. Ill, referred to.

(3) (a) The contention of the State that it was competent to it to fix an assumed date on which continuous service should be deemed to have com·· menced for determining seniority is not well founded. Under cl. 2(ii) of the memorandum what was required to be ·taken into account was the actual length of continuous service from the date of appointment and not the length of continuous service reckoned from ar. artificial date given by the State Government. [fl8H; 89B)

(b) Although the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 was in the nature of an administrative instruction, the State Government could not, at its own swee will, depart from it without rational justifiication and fix an artificial date for commendng the length of continuous service in the case of some individual officers only for the purpose of giving them seniority in contravention· of that clause; [89C]

( c) Where the State Government departs from principle of seniority laid down by it, albeit by administrative instructions, and the departure is without . reason and arbitrary, it would directly infringe the guarantee of equality under Arts. 14 and 16. [89D]

Vitara/Ji v. Seaton, 359 U.S. 535 at 54'o-547; 3 Law Ed. (Second Series) 1012 referred to.

( 4) Where the order of appointment appofots person with effect from the date· he assumes charge of the post. the appointment would be effective only when the person appointed assumes charge of the post and that would be the date of his appointment. Where he is appointed with immediate effect, the appointment would be effected immidiately,irrespective as to when the person appointed assumes charge of the post. [90C-D]

In the instant case so far as respondents 3 to 19 were concerned, the date of their appoimment was April 8, 1964 and the length of their continuous service in PCMS Class I was required to be reckoned from that date. Even . though the responde~ts joined their respective posts after April 25, . 1964, that did not make any difference because the length of contmuou.~ semce was to .be countetl from the date of appointment,

C1v1L APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 624 of 1971.

Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and orde1r dated the 8th April, 1970 of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in LP.A. No. 433/1969.

B. R. L. iyengar, S. K. Mehta for die appellant.

H. R. Khanna and 0. P. Sharma for Respondents Nos. 1 and 2.

Hardev Singh, R. S. Sodhi for Respondent No. 3.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by •

BHAGWATI, J.-This appeal raises the question whether the appd-la'at has been given his proper rank in the joint seniority list of ollicers,.. belonging to the Provincial Civil Medical Service, Class I after its re-organisation on 15th July, 1964.

There were, in the State of Punjab prior to 15th July, 1964, two separate and independent services, namely, Provincial Civil Medical Service (hereinafter for the sake of brevity referred to as PCMS) and Public Health Service. Both services comprised two classes, Class I and Class II, a!ad each had its own separate ranking for seniority and channel of promotion. The post of District Medical Officer of Health was post in Class II of the Public Health Serviee, while the post of Assistant Director He•alth Services was post in Class I of that Service. The appellant and one Dr. Jagjit Singh were, until their promotion with retrospective effect from 25th April, 1964, District Medical Officers of Health in Class II of Public Health Service. Dr. Jagjit Singh was admittedly senior to the appellant ~,1 rank. Respondents Nos .. 3 to 19 were, until their promotion .by an order dated 8th April, 1964, in Class II of PCMS. It appears that some posts in Class I of PCMS fell vacant an<l it was, therefore, decided to make promotions to these posts from amongst officers belonging to Class II of PCMS and an order dated 8th April, 1964 was accordingly issued by the State Government promoting inter alia respondents Nos. 3 to 19 to Class I, PCMS with immediate effect. Though this order was made on 8th April, 1964, it could not be conveyed to respondents Nos. 3 to 19 until 23rd April, 1964 and respondents Nos. 3 to 19 could, therefore, assume charge of the higher posts of promotion only after 27th ApriI, 1964. In fact they took charge of the higher posts of. promotion on different dates between 27th April, 1964 and 11th May, 1964. It may be pointed ot: t that under the order dated 8th April, 1964 several other officers belonging to Class II, PCMS, in addition to respondents Nos. 3 to 19 were also promoted to Class I, PCMS, but it is not necessary to refer to them si.'llce on bifurcation of the State of Punjab they were allotted to the State of Haryana and they are no longer contestants with the appellant in the ranking for seniority. So far as Dr. Jagjit Singh >and the appellant are concerned, Dr. Jagjit Singh was d.1 deputation with the Defence Department, while the appellant was appointed to work in the post of Assistant Director He-alth Services on his own pay scale from 25th April, 1964. This was the position which obtained! when PCMS and Public Health Service were integrated as part of the admi~ · nistrative reorganisation of the State Medical and Health Department with effect from 15th July, 1964.

The PCMS and Public Health Service were integrated with effect from 15th July, 1964 and common combined cadres, both in Class I and Class II, were created which were known as PCMS Class I and : PCMS Class II cadres. The cadre of District Medical Officers ''Of" Health, which constituted Class II in Public Health Service was equat-ed with PCMS Class .II cadre, while the cadre of Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors, which constituted Class I of Public Health Service, was equated with PCMS Class I cadre. Now at the time of integration Dr. Jagjit S~agh belonged to the c•adre of District Medical Officers of Health a!ad the appellant, though working in the post of Assistant Director was not promoted to that post but w?.s merely work-ing in that post on his own pay scale of District Medical Officer of Health and they would, therefore, have ordinarily been eqU'ated ·and absorbed in the i~1tegrated PCMS Class II cadre. But the appellant made representation to the State Government that since he was work· ing in the post of Assistant Director, sincr- 25th April, 1964, he should be promoted to that post with retrospective effect from th•at date. The State Government considered the representation of the appellant and decided that the appella!11t should be given promotion to the post of Assistant Director with effect from 25th April, 1964. But Dr. Jagjit Singh was senior to the appellant in the cadre of District Medical Officers of Health and it would, therefore, be unfair to him to ignore his Claim and give promotion to the appellant who was his junior. The State Government therefore, "with view to protecting his right of promotion by .virtue of his parent sel.iiority which could not be disturb· ed" passed an order dated 24th July, 1965 granting absentia promotion to Dr. Jagjit Singh to the post of Assistant Director, with effect from 25th. April, 1964 •and since Dr. Jagjit Singh was on deputation with the Defence Department, the State Governmelat, by the same order, promoted the appellant to the post of Assistant Director with effect from the same date vice Dr. Jagjit Singh. Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant were thus promoted to the posts of Assistant Director with retrospective effect from 25th April, 1964 and they were accordingly Assistant Directors on 15th July, 1964 when integration took place al11d were, therefore, equated and absorbed as such in PCMS Class I cadre.

Now, one question which arose consequent on the integration of Class I of Public Health Service with PCMS Class I was as to how the inter se seniority of the officers coming from the two services should be determined in the integrated service. The State Government by memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 decided that the inter se se·.1i-ority of officers belonging to the two integrating services should be determined on the following p;inciple vide cloause 2(ii) :

"The seniority of Deputy Directors and Assistant Direc-tors on the cadre of the Public Health on integration in PCMS-1 should be determined with reference to the length of continuous· service from the date of appointment in the group subject to the condition that the seniority of person in parent seniority list will not be disturbed."

This principle for determirration of inter se seniority was communicated by the Director, Health Services, Punjab to the appellant in letter

dated 27th October, 1964. The appellant was given an option in re-gard to integration ilil PCMS Class I and was told tlrat on receipt of his opinion his Sf!niority i.n PCMS Class I would be fixed in accordance with the length of his continuous service from the date of his appoint-ment. The appellant opted in favour of integr"'tion a1,1d he was ac-cordingly, as stated above, integrated in PCMS Class I. The question then arose as to how the seniority of the appellant vis-a-vis respondents Nos. 3 to 19 should be arranged. The appellant claimed that on the basis of the pri[1]aciple of seniority laid down in clause 2(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 he was entitled to seniority over respondents Nos. 3 to 19 since his continuous service started from 25th April, 1964, while the continuous service of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 did not start until after 25th April, 1964 when they as-s!·med charge of their respective posts. The State Government, how-ever, issued aa order dated 4th December, 1967 determining that the seniority of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 sh-all be reckoned from the date of their order of appointment, namely, 8th April, 1964 irrespective as to when they assumed charge of their respective posts and on this basis, rejected the claim of the appellant. Subsequently, provisional joint seniority list of PCMS Class I was published by the State Gqvernment and in this list, respondents Nos. 3 to 19 were shown as senior to Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant.

The appellant being aggrieved by the decision of the State Govern-ment giving seniority to respondents Nos. 3 to 19 over Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant, filed petition under Art. 226 of the Coastitutioff in the High Court of Pun jab and Haryana challenging the se11iority list published by the State Government. The main ground of chalkng1~ was that according to the pri[1],1ciple of seniority laid down by the State Government in clause 2(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 the inter se seniority of the integrating officers was to be deter·-mined with reference to the length of continuous service from the date of appointment and if this priaciple was properly applied, Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant would be senior to respondents Nos. 3 to 19' as their continuous service in the posts of Assistant Director commenc-· ed from 25th April, 1964, while the continuous service of responde~1ts Nos. 3 to 19 in the corresponding posts in PCMS Class I did not com-mence until after 25th April, 1964 when they took charge of their respective posts and the continuous service put in by them was, there-fore, longer in duration thait that put in by respondents Nos. 3 to 19. This ground was accepted by the learned Single Judge who heard the petition and taking the view that Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant were senior to respondents Nos. 3 to 19 the !earned Sinigle Judge-allowed the petition abd directed that the seniority list should revised' by the St•ate Government so as to give seniority to the appellant ove'lf respondents Nos. 3 to 19. .

The State Government and the Director of Health Services Punjab thereupon preferred Letters Patent Appeal No. 446 of 1969 before Division Bench of the High Court. Some of the respondents Nos. 3 to 19 also preferred separate letters Patent Appeal No. 433 of 1969. Both these Letters Patent Appeals were heard by Division Bench of the

High Court. The learned· Judges constituting the Division Bench took the view that the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 laid down the principle determining seniority only for Deputy Directors · and Assistant Directors in the Public Health Service on integration in PCMS Class I and did not provide as to how seniority of Medical Officers already in PCMS Class I shall be determined vis-a-vis Deputy Directors 8 [. ][and ][Assistant Directors ][on ][integration. ][It ][was, ][therefore, competent ][to ]the State Government to issue the order dated 4th December 1967 determining that the seniority of respondents Nos. 3 (.) 19 shall be reck_oned fro.m t~e ct.ate of their order of appointment, namely, 8th April, 1964 me_sp~ctive as to when they assumed charge of their higher posts. The sen10ny of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 was accordingly liable ~? b~ reckoned from 8th ~pril, 1964 and since the seniority of Dr. Jag-Jll Smgh and the appellant commenced only from 25th April, 1964, r~spondents Nos. 3 to I~ were rightly shown as senior to Dr. Jagjit Smgh and the appellant. The learned Judges on this view allowed the appeal and upheld the provisional joint seniority list o~ PCMS Class I showing respondents Nos. 3 to 19 above Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant in seniority. That led to the filing of the present appeal with special leave obtained from this Court.

We must consider what was the true scope and ambit of the prin-ciple 01fi seniority laid down in clause (2)(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965. Did it apply in relation to officers coming from both services for the purpose of determining their inter se seniority in the integrated service or was it intended to provide principle for deter-mining seniority only for Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors on their integration in PCMS Class I ? To answer this question it is neces-sary to understand what was the problem before the State Government which it -set out to solve by issuing clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965. The position which then obtained was. that with effect from 15th July, 1964 Class I of Public Health Service, consisting of the posts of Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors, was integrated with PCMS Class I and since officers coming from these two different services were to be absorbed and fitted into one integrated service, it was necessary to evolve fair and just principle for determin-ing their inter se seniority 'in the integrated service. It was for this purpose that the State Government issued clause (2) (ii) of the memo~ randum dated 25th October, 1965. What clause (2)(ii) provided was that on integration in PCM~ Class I, the seniority of Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors vis-a-·vis the other officers in that service should be determined by reference to the length of continuous service from the date of appointment, that is, the continuous service of such integrating officer should be reckoned from the date of his appointment in his group-whether it be in PCMS Class I or in Public Health Service Class I-and the inter se seniority should be arranged acc01:ding to the length of such continuous service. The measure or yard-stick for adjusting inter se seniority of the officers coming from the two services should be the length of continuous service of each from the date of appointment in !\is group. This was the principle laid down in clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 for bringing about integration · of the two services by adjusting the inter se seniority of the officers in

the integrated service. There was n~ ?ccasion _or. nee~ at that time to lay down any P!inciple _for determmmg. s_emonty inter s~ Deputy Directors or Assistant Directors. The semonty of Deputy Directors or Assistant Directqrs inter se in Pubic Health Service Class I was already determined and known and clause (2)(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 in fact provided that the adjustment of inter se seniority in the integrated service according to the length of continu-ous service frorrl the date of appoinment should be subject to the con-dition that "the seniority of persons in the present seniority list will not be disturbed." Clause (2)(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965, was, therefore, not intended to provide for seniority of Deputy Directors or Assistant Directors inter se in their parent service. What.f-ever was the inter se seniority of Deputy Directors or Assistant Directors in their parent service was not to be disturbed while adjusting the seniority of the officers in the integrated service and so also was the inter se seniority of the officers already in PCMS Class I not to be violated while fixing seniority in the integrated service. There c:an, therefore, be no doubt that on proper interpretation of clause (2)(ij) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 the principle of length of continuous service from the date of appointment was applicabfo to officers coming from both the services for the purpose of fixing . their inter se seniority in the integrated service.

Now, it is true that clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 was not statutory provision having the Jiorce of law and was merel); an administrative instruction issued by the State Gov-ernment in exercise of its executive. power. But that does not present any difficulty, for it is now well settled by several decisions of this Court that where no statutory rules are made regulating recruitment or condi-tions of service; the State Government always can in exercise of its executive power issue administrative instructions providing Jior recruit-ment and laying down conditions of service. Vide B. N. Nagarajan v. State of My$ore(") and Sant Ram Sharma v. State of Rajasthan & A.nr.([2 ]) It was, therefore, competent to the State Government to issue clause (2)(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 in exercise of its r,xecutive power laying down the principle to be followed in adjusting inter se seniority of the officers in the integrated setvice.

But the question then arises whe.ther the State Government could issue the order dated 4th December, 1967 providing that the senic)rity of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 shall be reckoned from the date of issue of their order . of appointment, namely, 8th Ai:iril, 1964 irrespe<:tive as to when they assumed charge of the higher posts, if such order was in contravention of the principle of seniority laid down in clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum· dated 25th October, 1965. The argument urged on behalf of the State Government was that it was competent to it to fix an assumed date on which the continuous service of respon-dents Nos. 3 to 19 should be deemed to have commenced for the pur-pose of determining their seniority in the integrated service, and the order dated 4th December, 1967 was, therefore, not beyond its power.

co [l966J 3 s.c.i6s2.

rz> [1%SJ 1 s.c.R. 111.

But we do not think this argument is well founded. Clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965 pwvided that the seniority of the officers in the Integrated service shall be determined by refe-rence to the length of continuous service from the date of appointment in the group within their respective service. What was, therefore, . required to be taken into account was the actual length of continuous service from· the date of appointment and not the length of continuous service reckoned from an artificial date given by the Stak Government. Now, it is true that clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum dated. 25th October, 1965 was in the nature of administrative instruction, not having the force of law, but the State Government could not at its own sweet will depart from it without rational justification and fix an arti-ficial date for commencing the length of continuous service in the case of some individual officers only for the purpose of giving them seniority C· in contravention of that clause. That would be clearly violative of arti-cles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The sweep of articles 14 and 16 is wide and pervasive. These two articles embody the principle of rationality and they are intended to strike against arbitrary and discri-minatory action taken by the 'State'. Where the State Government departs from principle of seniority laid down by it, albeit by administrative instructions; and the departure is without reason .. and arbitrary, it would directly infringe the guarantee of equality under · articles 14 and 16. It is interesting to notice that in the United States it is now well settled that an executive agency must be rigorously held to the standards by which it professes its actions to be judged and it must scrupulously observe those standards on paiOI. of invalidation of a11 act in violation of them. Vide the judgment of Mr. Justice Frank· furtei: in Vitaralli v. Seton (1[1]) This view is of course not based on the equality clause of the United State Constitution and it is evolved as rule of administrative law. But the principle is the sa:me, namely, that arbitrariness should be eliminated in State action. If, therefore, we find that the order dated 4th December, 1967 gave an artificial date from which the continuous service of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 shall be deemed to have commenced, though in fact and in truth their conti-F nuous service commenced from different dates and it was thus in con-travention of the principle of seniority laid down in clause (2 )(ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965, it would have t@ be held to be void as being vfolative of articles 14 and 16.

therefore, .

We do not, however, thiilk that the order dated 4th December, 1967 providing that the seniority of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 shall be reckoned from the date of their appointment, namely, 8th April, 1964 censtituted departure from the principle of seniority laid down in clause (2) (ii) of the memorandum dated 25th October, 1965. The test for determining seniority in the integrated cadre laid down by clause (2) (ii) of the memora'.ldum dated 25th October, 1965 was the · length of .continuous service from the date of appointment iu · the group. The appellant contended that continuous service in . post could commence only when the incumbent took charge of the post vnd n~ earlier and, therefore, though respondents Nos. 3 to 19 were pro-nioted under the 'lrder datecl 8th April, 1964, their continuous service

(1) 359 U.S. 535 at 546-547 : 3 Law. Sd. (Sec.and Series) 10121

in the posts of promotion in PCMS Class I did not commence until after 25ih Ap1dl, 1964 when they took charge of their respective posts or promotion and hence the length of their continuous servic1~ in PCMS Class ] was less than that of Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appdlant in Public Health Service, Class I. This contention is fallacious in that it fails to give: suffici1:nt importance to the words "from the dat1~ of appointment and ignores the true meaning and effect of the order dated 8th April, 1964. First let us see what the words "date of the order of appointment" mean. Are they synonymous with "date of the order of appointment"? We think not. An order of appointment may be of three kinds. It may appoint person with effect from the date he assumes charge of the post or it may appoint him with immediate effect or it may appoint him simpliciter without saying as to when the appointment shall take effect. Where the order of appointment is of the fi.rst kind, the appointment would be effective only when the person appointed assumes charge of the post and that would be the date of his appointment. It would be then that he is appointed. But in case of the second kind, which is the one with which we are con-cerned since the order dated 8th April, 1964 appointed respondents Nos. 3 to 19 to PCMS Class I "with immediate effect", the appoint-ment would be effective immediately irrespective as to w~en the person · appointed assumes charge of the post. The date of his appointim~nt in such case would be the same as the date of the order of appointment. J t is, therefore, obvious that so far as respondents Nos. 3 to 19 were concerned, th~ date of their appointm~nt was 8th April, 1964 and the length of their continuous service in PCMS Class I was required to be n:ckoned from that date. It is true that respondents Nos. 3 to 19 riid not assume charge of their respective posts of promotion until after 25th Ap•·il, 1964, but that makes no difference because the length of continuous service is to be counted from the date of appointment on the hypothesis that once the appointment is effective the person con-cnned is in the post and his service in the post is deemed to have commenced though und~r the rules governing his conditions of sef'1ice he may .not be entitled to the salary and allowances attached to the post until he assumes charge of the post. The continuous service of respondents Nos. 3 to 19 in PCMS Class I, therefore, commenced from 8th April, 1964 and since that was longer than the continuous service of Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant in Public Health Service Class I, which commenced only on 25th April, 1964, respondents Nos. 3 to 19 were entitled to be placed senior to Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant in the joint se11iority list of the integrated PCMS Class I.

We, therefore, uphold the joint seniority list of the integrated PCMS Class I prepared by the State Government giving seniority to respondents ~'.os. 3 to 19 over Dr. Jagjit Singh and the appellant and dismiss the appeal. There will be no order as to costs.