1. Before the High Court the validity of West Bengal Services (Secretariat Common Cadre) Rules, 1984 and West Bengal Services (Secretariat Common Cadre of Deputy Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries) Rules, 1984 was challenged. Learned Single Judge has struck down the rules on the ground that unequals are put together for the purpose of promotion to the cadre of Assistant Secretary. It may be observed that persons belonging to the categories who re promotional posts by themselves like, Assistant Secretary, Registrar/Special Officer/DSP and Upper Division Assistant are grouped together in the zone of consideration for promotion to the post of Assistant Secretary. The learned Single Judge was of the view that posts which are promotional should not be clubbed together for further promotion and that would be unreasonable

2. The Division Bench has reversed the order of the learned Single Judge

3. Hence this appeal by special leave

4. Having heard counsel for the parties and having perused relevant rules and other materials, we are of the opinion that the view taken by the Division Bench is unassailable. It may be noted that we are concerned with the norms of promotion to the common cadre for which the impugned rules were promulgated. Prior to the said rules there was no uniformity in promotion in different departments. There were promotions on different basis. In some departments people used to get accelerated promotion or on fortuitous circumstances. In some departments people used to stagnate for want of promotion. In some department Upper Division Assistants were eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Secretary. It was to remove this anomaly the common cadres were established and promotion was uniformly regularised. It was, therefore, found necessary to lay down some uniform principle for determining the seniority amongst the eligible candidates for the purpose of promotion to the higher post. The Division Bench has also expressed the view that prior to the formation of common cadre there was no uniformity in the matter of promotion of intermediate promotional posts which are above the categories of Upper Division Assistants. Therefore, when inter seniority of different categories of posts are to be determined, their seniority in the basic category of Upper Division Assistants would perhaps be the most reliable test. There was no other common measure or yardstick for determination of seniority of eligible employees belonging to different cadres

5. It may be significant to note that in some departments Upper Division Assistants were eligible for promotion to the cadre of Assistant Secretaries and if those persons after common cadre were to be excluded from consideration then the rules would have been bad. It is, therefore, proper to take into consideration the seniority from the basic cadre of Upper Division Assistants

6. We agree with the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court and dismiss the appeal without any order as to costs.