Appeal No 621 of 1976
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 1211976 of the Allahabad High Court in Civil Misc
Writ Petition No 7183 of 1975 Appellant in person
VP Raman Addl
and Girish Chandra for respondent No 1
Yogeshwar Prasad Lalji Sinha and Miss Rani Arora for respondent No 5
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRACHUD J
Respondent 1 the Union of India established the Locomotive Component Works at Varanasi in 1956 for manufacturing component parts of locomotives
That manufactory merged in 1961 with the Diesel Locomotive Works The appellant SK Chandan who was serving with the Westeren Railway as a Chargeman was transferred in 1963 to the Diesel Locomotive Works in the grade of Rs 375 475 which he was holding at the time of his transfer as a member of the Class III service
The question which arises in this appeal concerns the claim of the appellant to be promoted to Class II service
In 1975 the appellant filed the present writ petition in the Allahabad High Court asking for the writs of Certiorari and Mandamus
We arc now concerned with the grant of the latter writ only by which the appellant prayed inter alia that respondent 1 be directed to hold selections to Class II service in accordance with the Advance Correction Slip 70
 This particular prayer was rejected by the High Court by 787 its judgment dated January 12 1976 on the view that rules contained in Slip 70 did not govern the promotion of Class III employees to Class II
Aggrieved by the aforesaid decision the appellant has filed this appeal by special leave of this Court
The leave is restricted to the ques tion whether the promotion of Class III employees to Class II is governed by Slip 70
Paragraph 105 of the Indian Railway Establishment Code Vol
I divides railway services into two categories gazet ted and non gazetted
Services in Classes 1 and II are gazetted whereas those in Classes 111 and IV and the Serv ices of the Workshop Staff are designated as nongazetted
Paragraph 157 of the Code confers on the Railway Board full powers to make rules of general application to non gazetted railway servants under their control
 Acting in pursuance of this power the Railway Board has framed rules which are to be found in the Indian Railway Establishment Manual Chapter i of those rules deals with questions relating to recruitment training confirmation and reemployment
Chapter II which is headed Rules governing the promotion of subordinate staff  consists of two sections A  and B 
Section A  deals with Promotion to Class II posts while section B  contains Rules governing the promotion of subordinate staff
Chapter  III is headed Rules regulating seniority of non gazetted railway servants Originally Chapter III contained rules 301 to 323
The Advance Correction Slip No 70 also issued by the Railway Board in exercise of its powers under Paragraph 157 of the Railway Establishment Code substituted a new rule 301 for the existing rule and it introduced five new rules in Chapter III namely rules 324 to 328
The contention of the appellant which requires examination in this appeal is that his promotion to Class II is governed by the rules introduced by Slip No 70 which came into force on March 11 1973
The appellant who argued his own case before us with quite industry and plausibility did not dispute that rules 324 323 327 3281 and 3283 have no application to this case
Rule 3262 which prescribes deemed dates of trans fers would apply but has been concededly compiled with the appellant having no grievance in regard to the fixation of the deemed date of his transfer to the Diesel Locomotive Works
Keeping these provisions apart the question boils down to the applicability of rules 301 and 3282 4 and 5
The appellant s argument that the rules introduced by Advance Correction Slip 70 govern his right to promotion to Class II is plainly misconceived
In the first place the rules introduced by Slip No 70 were made by the Railway Board in exercise of its powers under Paragraph 157 of the Railway Establishment Code which empowers it to make rules of general application to Non gazetted railway servants under its control
Though the Railway Board has the power to make rules governing both gazetted and non gazetted railway servants the rules expressed to be made under Paragraph 157 cannot in the very 788 nature Of things be intended to apply to gazetted railway servants or to govern the promotion of non gazetted railway servants to gazetted posts
But this is a small point because if the Railway Board has the power to make rules in regard to both gazetted and non gazetted railway servants the signification of a limited source of power cannot whit tle down the effective exercise of that power if the rules can reasonably be construed to cover both the gazetted and non gazetted categories
The true reason Why it is impossible to accept the appellant s contention that his promotion to Class II is governed by the rules introduced by Slip No 70 is that Chapter II section A of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual in terms prescribes rules governing the promotion of subordinate staff to Class II posts
The heading of Chap ter II is Rules governing the promotion of subordinate staff and section A of that Chapter bears he Sub heading Promotion to Class II posts Rule 201 which is the first of the Rules occurring in section A of Chapter II provides The following provisions shall apply in respect of promotion of non gazetted class III staff employed on Indian Railways or other Railway administrations to class II posts other than those in Railway Protection Force organization Rule 202 prescribes conditions of eligibility rule 203 deals with the size of panels of selection rule 204 with the constitution of the selection boards rule 205 with the procedure to be adopted by selection boards and rules 206 and 207 with the currency and formation of panels
These seven rules constitute a Code of rules governing the promo tion of the non gazetted Class III staff to Class II posts
other than those in the Railway Protection Force
In view of the fact that the Railway Board has framed these specific rules for the promotion of Class III staff to Class II posts it seems to us difficult to accept that the rules introduced by Slip No 70 would also govern the same subject matter
The Advance Correction Slip No 70 introduced amendments to Chapter III and not to Chapter II of the Manual
Chapter III deals with rules regulating seniority of non gazetted railway servants and it is in regard to that class of rail way servants that the Railway Board made new provisions through Slip No 70
The provisions contained in Chapter III including the provisions newly introduced by Slip No 70 are very clearly designed to govern the seniority and promotion of non gazetted servants within the non gazetted categories of posts
The non gazetted railway service con sists of Class III and IV employees and of the Workshop staff
Within each of these three classes there may be different grades of railway servants and the rules in Chapter III are intended to govern the inter se seniority and the promotion of a railway employee from one category of non gazetted post to another category of a non gazetted post
The 789 rules in Chapter HI cannot therefore govern the promotion of nongazetted railway servants to gazetted posts
Since the appellant is working as a non gazetted employee in Class III his promotion to a gazetted post in Class II would be governed by Chapter II section A and not by Chapter III of the Railway Establishment Manual
Rule 301 of Chapter III as introduced by Slip 70 provides terms that the rules contained in the particular Chapter lay down general principles that may be followed for determining the seniority of non gazetted railway servants and that rules 324 to 328 of that Chapter shall apply for the purpose of determining the seniority and promotion of non gazetted employees of the Diesel Locomotive Works
The appellant relied very strongly on rule 3282 which provides that selections and promotions made in the Diesel Locomotive Works from 1 8 1961 to the date on which Slip No 70 came into force namely March 11 1973 shall not be valid
He urges that this provision casts an obligation on the Railway Board to recall all promotions made from amongst Class III servants to Class H posts from August 1 1961 to March  1973 and that therefore those who are already promoted to gazetted posts ought to be demoted and a fresh panel must be formed for selection to Class II posts from amongst employees working in Class III posts
The infirmity of this argument is that Chapter III applies only to non gazetted servants and to their inter se promotion and therefore the words promotions made in the Diesel Locomo tive Works which occur in rule 3282 must be construed as meaning promotions made in the Diesel Locomotive Works from one category of non gazetted post to another category of non gazetted post
The same answer would effectively meet the contention of the appellant that the words promotion to the higher grades occurring in paragraph 3284 mean promo tion to a Class II post
The words promotion to the higher grades must in the context mean promotion to any of the higher grades in the non gazetted category
Rule 123 3 of Chapter I Section B Railway Establishment Manual defines grades as sub divisions of a class each bearing a differ ent scale of pay
If the grievance of the appellant who holds a non gazet ted post in Class III at all is or can be that he has not been promoted to Class II he must show that the railway administration has violated some provision contained in Chapter II section A of the Railway Establishment Manual
It is useless and irrelevant for him to show that the provisions of Chapter III introduced by Advance Correction Slip No 70 have not been complied with by the administra tion
None of the rules introduced by that slip governs the promotion of a Class III employee to a Class II post
The High Court was accordingly right in refusing to issue a writ of mandamus directing the railway administra tion to apply the provisions of Chapter III in the matter of the appellant s promotion to a Class II post
The appellant has filed a civil miscellaneous petition 7990 of 1976 complaining of adverse entries in his Service record and of the 790 fact that he has been superseded in the matter of promotion
These very grievances were made by him in the High Court but he lost on those points
While granting special leave to appeal this Court refused to consider the correctness of the High Court s findings on those issues
The leave being restricted to the question as regards the application of rules introduced by Advance Correction Slip No 70
the appellant cannot be permitted to raise questions which must be taken as finally decided under the judgment of the High Court
For these reasons the appeal fails but there will be no order as to costs
SR Appeal dismissed


Summary:
Chapter 11 of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual deals with Rules governing the provision of subordinate staff and Section A thereof deals with promotion to class II posts
 The Railway Board by virtue of its power vested by para 157 of the Indian Railway Establishment Code introduced wef
March 11 1973 an Advance Correction Slip No 70 substituting a new rule 301 and introducing new rules 324 to 328
Chapter III deals with the rules regulat ing seniority of non gazetted Railway servants and the new rule 3282 provided that selections and promotions made in the Diesel Locomotive Works from August 1 1961 to March 11 1973 shall not be valid
The appellant a member of the class III service serving with the Western Railway as a chargeman was transferred to the Diesel Locomotive Works in 1963 and was given the benefits of deemed dates of transfer as provided for in Rule 3262
The appellant filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court praying for a writ of mandamus on the strength of the Advance Correction Slip No 70 praying for a direction to the respondent to hold selections to class 1I service
The application was rejected holding that the rules contained in Slip No 70 did not govern the promo tion of class III employees to class Dismissing the appeal by  special leave the court HELD Though the Railway Board has the power to make rules governing both gazetted and non gazetted Railway servants the rules expressed to be made under paragraph 157 cannot in the
very nature of things be intended to apply to gazetted Railway servants or to govern the promotion of non gazetted Railway servants to gazetted posts
If the Railway Board has the power to make rules in regard to both gazetted and non gazetted Railway servants the significa tion of a limited source of power cannot whitle down the effective exercise of that power if the rules can reasonably be construed to cover both the gazetted and non gazetted categories
787 H 788 A B 2 None of the rules introduced by Slip No 70 govern the promotion of a class III employee to a class II post
The amendments were made to
Chapter III dealing with rules regulating seniority of non gazetted Railway servants
It is in regard to that class of Railway servants that the Railway 786 Board made new provisions
The provisions contained in Chapter III including provisions newly introduced by Slip No 70 are very clearly designed to govern the seniority and promotions of non gazetted servants within the non gazetted categories of posts
Chapter 11 Section A of the Manual in terms prescribes rules governing the promotion of subordinate staff to class II post
In view of the fact that the Railway Board has framed seven specific rules in Chapter II for the promotion of class III staff to class ii post the contention that the rules introduced by Slip No 70 would also govern the same subject mater cannot be ac cepted
In the instant case since the appellant is working as a non gazetted employee in class III his promotion 10 a gazetted post in class 1I would be governed by Chapter II Section A and not by Chapter III of the Railway Establish ment Manual
788 F H 789 A 3 The words promotions made in the Diesel Locomo tive Works which occur in Rule 3282 must be construed as meaning promotions made in the Diesel Locomotive Works from one category of non gazetted post to another category of non gazetted post
 The words promotion to the higher grades occurring in para 3284 mean promotion to a class II post
The words promotion to the higher grades must in the context mean promotion to any of the higher grades in the non gazetted category
The contention that Rule 3281 casts an obligation on the Railway Board to recall all promotions made from amongst class III servants to class II posts from August 1 1961 to March 11
1973 is misplaced
789 B C