During the period between 1956 and 1962 and further till 1965 all the Class I posts of the Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I namely Assistant Director and Deputy Director were manned by the Transferred Field Officers belonging to the Indian Telecommunication Service Group A and Group B. For the first time the Union Public Service Commission advertised for the recruitment of 10 Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I in the Telecommunications Research center under the Recruitment Rules.
The Telecommunication Research center is engaged in the research and development work companycerning the telecommunication equipment for the use of the Department and in advising the PT Board on relevant technical matters relating to the introduction of new equipment and technology in the existing public companymunication net work.
They are number holding the posts of Assistant Directors or Deputy Directors since 1975.
The recruitment to the different cadres in the Telecommunication Research center is number being made under the Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I Telecommunications Research center of the Posts and Telegraphs Department Recruitment Rules, 1962 hereinafter referred to as the Recruitment Rules framed by the President under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India.
The Class I posts in the Telecommunication Research center companysist of the following posts Director Senior Administrative Grade Level I Additional Director Senior Administrative Grade Level II Deputy Directors Junior Administrative Grade Assistant Directors Senior Class I Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I Junior Class I .
Having regard to the inadequacy of the material produced by both the sides before us and to the fact that the officers who are likely to be affected by the decision are number impleaded as parties by name to these petitions, we are of the view that the first question should be left open to be decided by the Central Administrative Tribunal.
These were General Central Service Class I posts and they companytinue to be so till today.
The qualifications for recruitment prescribed in the case of both classes are the same.
The direct recruits to which category the petitioners belong and the Transferred Field Officers Group A working in the Telecommunication Research center discharge same functions and duties.
They are working as officers in the Telecommunication Research center of the Posts and Telegraph Department which is directly under the companytrol of the PT Board of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India.
In response to the said advertisement petitioners 2,3 and 4 applied for recruitment and they were selected for appointment to the posts of ST.O. Grade I. At the time of the filing of these writ petitions there were in all 21 officers who had been recruited at the entry level of Junior Class I posts of S T.Os Grade I. They were recruited in four batches in 1965, 1967, 1970 and 1973.
In these petitions, the petitioners have raised two grounds, namely, the first relating to the denial of promotional opportunities to them on account of the irregular implementation of the rules of promotion companytained in the Recruitment Rules and the second relating to violation of Article 14 and Article 16 of the Constitution by number granting them the same special pay which is granted to the transferred officers who are working in the Telecommunication Research center in the same posts and discharging the same functions as the petitoners.
They are in the same pay scales from 1.1.1973 at the companyparable levels grades, i.e., Scientific and Technical Officers Grade I, Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors as recommended by the Third Pay Commission and accepted by the Government.
Direct recruitment to the Telecommunication Research center has been discontinued.
The Posts of Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors and S.T.Os Grade I are filled by the following methods a by direct recruitment through the Union Public Service Commission, The petitioners belong to this category.
