Judgment Case ID: 3633

Judgment:
Appeal No. 463/76. (Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 11/12 11 1975 of the Gujarat High Court in L.P.A. No. 113/74). D.V. Patel	 P.H. Parekh and Miss Manju Jetley for the Appellants. M.C. Bhandare	 S.P. Nayar and M.N. Shroff	 for the	 State of Gujarat. R. K	 Garg and S.C. Agarwala	 for Respondents Nos. 5 6 and 8 11. M.N. Shroff	 for the State of Maharashtra. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER	 J. This is a typical 'service ' appeal	 by special leave	 which prompts the topical question: Is lit Wiser national policy to process disputes regarding seniori ty	 promotion	 termination and allied matters affecting the public services	 through the docket bound	 formalised	 methodology of the judicature adopting its traditional	 time consuming	 tier upon tier system and handicapped by absence of administrative expertise	 accessibility to criti cal information and other limitations on the mode and extent of relief	 or	 alternatively	 through built in	 high pow ered	 but credibility wise less commanding	 agencies of composite skills and processes and flexible remedial juris dictions ? 'Justice and Reform ' is a recurrent interroga tion. Our civil services	 if only the static and stratified system were transformed and the men properly oriented and activated	 may well prove equal to the dynamic challenges of our times but for the pathetic phenomenon of numbers of officials being locked in long forensic battles. This litigative pathology of the members of the public services deplorably diverts the undivided energies	 sensitive under standing and people based disposition demanded of them for the fulfilment of the Nation 's Tryst with Destiny through implementation of massive 1040 and multiform developmental plans. Hopefully	 constructive thinking on impregnable	 competent and quick acting (but not derobed or devalued) intra structures and procedures for improving and accelerating the system of justice to the public services is currently under way. Now to the merits. The briefs are big and the arguments long	 but the factual matrix and the legal conflicts lend themselves to be condensed without detriment. The competi tion between two categories of members borne on the cadre of Deputy Collectors of the State of Gujarat viz.	 direct recruits and in service promotees	 on the issue of seniority inter se	 with its futuristic career overtones	 is the crunch question in this civil appeal. The grey area of 'service jurisprudence ' covered before us encompasses sever al decisions and if 'by good disputing shall the law be well known '	 there has been so much disputation of learned length at the bar that the legal points should have been more pellucid than the precedents read and re read made us feel. 'The aid of the purifying ordeal of skilled argument ' when too lapidary and finical reaches a point of no return	 despite Megarry J to the contrary in Cordell vs Second Clanfield Properties Lid. (1). Seven Deputy Collectors	 arriving by direct recruitment in	 and after 1963	 claim to be ahead	 in the gradation list	 of their more numerous counterparts former mamlatdars	 whose promotional incarnation as Deputy Collectors	 dates back to the years 1960 63. The title of these younger incum bents to be eider in the Civil List is primarily founded on a basic Resolution of Government of July 30	 1959 regulating recruitment to the Deputy Collectors ' cadre by the 'then Bombay State adopting a quota basis. The Gujarat State	 carved out of Bombay and formed on May 1	 1960	 continued the system; and so	 simplistically presented	 the fate of the 'seniority ' struggle critically turns on the construc tion the Bombay Resolution of 1959 bears	 the rival versions having been alternately frowned upon or favoured at the original and appellate docks of the High Court. There are other matters of moment debated at the bar and we will pass on some of them at later stages. In administrative and legal terms	 this case is the projection of the common rivalry for promotional positions between fresh	 young recruits and old	 seasoned promotees	 between alleged excel lence of talented youth and tasted experience of mellowed age. Sympathies may sway either way and reasons often spring from sympathies. To be captiously wise in retrospect may itself border on vice. Even so	 we are constrained to observe that when government orders	 as here	 have the flavour of law and impact upon the fundamental rights and equal opportunities of citizens	 they have to be drafted with the case that legal orders deserves lest avoidable litigation should thrive for no better reason than that administrative orders or subsidiary legislation have been drawn up with a casual ness that betrays the skills of insoucience. Law must be precise	 simple	 clear	 comprehensive and (1) [1968] 3 All E.R. Ch. 1041 there is a duty on the law maker at every level not to injure the community by tengled webs of rules	 orders and notifications whose meaning is revealed only through tran scendental meditation or constant litigation. in a social istic pattern of society there is hardly any part of nation al life or personal life which is not affected by some legal rule or other. When men have to look to the law from the cradle to the grave	 making of even subsidiary laws demands greatest attention. To begin with the legal beginning is best done with the Bombay Government Resolution of 1959 after giving a thumb nail sketch of the relevant service structure and other minimal particulars. The composite Bombay State	 for purposes of Revenue Administration	 had been divided into Divisions which were separate units for promotional prospects	 liability to transfer etc.	 of deputy collectors. The routine source of recruitment to these posts used to be mamlatdars who were transferred as deputy collectors by promotion. As early as 1939	 a different recruitment policy had been evolved for picking suitable hands from the open market by direct nomi nation. The inevitable concomitant of a plurality of recruitment categories is the evolution of a workable rule of inter se seniority. So	 by an order of 1941	 the mode of determining seniority between 'nominees ' and 'promotees ' was settled. Service	 for seniority purposes	 so far as direct recruits were concerned	 was to run from the date of their appointment on probation and	 in the case of promotee offi cers	 such service was to begin with promotion in substan tive vacancies	 if continued without break. For reasons obscure	 the direct recruitment scheme of infusion of fresh blood to use the usual validating vascular metaphor to invigorate the Administration	 hibernated from 1950 until 1959. However	 the crucial government decision of July 30	 1959 not merely re activated the mode of direct recruitment but fixed the promotion in which recruitment from the two sources was to be made	 referred to conveniently as the quota system. The heart of the debate before us is whether a quota prescription	 willy nilly	 does postulate ex necessitate a rota process in practice. We may here read the resolution itself: Deputy Collector: Recruitment of probationers GOVERNMENT OF BOMBAY REVENUE DEPARTMENT Resolution No. RTC. 1157/99153 D Sachivalaya	 Bombay	 30th July 1959 Read Government Resolution No. 9313/45	 dated the 6th Febru ary 1950. Government Resolution No. 9313/45	 dated the 24th July 1951. 1042 RESOLUTION: Government had for sometime under consideration the question of reviving the system of direct recruitment to the cadre of Deputy Collectors. It has now been decided that in the interest of administration	 the revival of .that system is quite necessary. Government is accordingly pleased to cancel the orders contained in Government Resolution No. 9313/45	 dated 6th February 1950 and those in Government Resolution No. 9313/45	 dated the 24th July 1951	 in so far as they relate to the recruitment of Bombay Civil Service Executive Branch Deputy Collectors (Upper Division) and to direct that	 as far as practicable	 50 per cent of the substantive vacancies occurring in the cadre with effect from 1st January 1959 should be filled in by nomination of candidates to be selected in accordance with the Rules appended herewith. x x x x x By order and in the name of the Governor of Bombay	 G.L. Sheth Secretary to Government" We may also extract the portion from the ' annexed rules of recruitment pertinent to our purpose: "Appointment to the posts of Deputy Collector shall be made either by nomination or by promotion of suitable Mamlatdars: Provided that the ratio of appointment by nomination and by promotion shall	 as far as practicable	 be 50: 50." The raw materials government proceedings needed for our discussion will be complete if the 1941 Resolution also were read at this stage: "GOVERNMENT OF BOMBAY Political & Services Department Resolution No. 3283/34 Bombay Castle	 21st November	 1941. x x x RESOLUTION: Government is pleased to direct that the following principles should be observed in determining the seniority of direct recruits and promoted Officers in the provincial services (except the Bombay services of Engineers	 Class I) (i) In the case of direct recruits appointed substantively on probation	 the seniority should be determined with reference to the date of their appointment on probation. (ii) In the case of officers promoted to substantive vacancies	 the seniority should be determined with reference to the (1 ) Date of their promotion to the (2) substantive vacan cies (3) provided there has 1043 been no break in service prior to their con firmation in those vacancies. By order and in the name of the Governor of Bombay G.F.S. Collins Chief Secretary to the Govt. of Bombay Political and Services Department" Flowing out of the fixation of the ratio between the two species of recruits and having a bearing on the issue of seniority is another Resolution of the Bombay Government (continued during the relevant period in Gujarat also by virtue of an omnibus circular of May 1	 1960) of February 3	 1960. This step became primarily necessary on account of the Reorganisation of States and the abolition of Divisions. The legal fiction of 'deemed dates of commencement of serv ice ' for the purpose of inter se seniority of personnel drawn from different pre Reorganisation States and from the Divisions within the State on conversion of the deputy collectors ' cadre into a State wide one has been crystal lised in this rule of February 1960. One more clarificatory proceeding of Government	 dated May 27	 1960 has loomed large in Shri Patel 's submissions	 especially the Explanation portion thereof and	 in a sense	 it lends some push to the problematic conclusion. We there fore read the relevant Government Circular right here: No. GSF 1060 F Government of Gujarat General Administration Department Sachivalaya	 Ahmedabad	 27th May 1960 CIRCULAR Read: Government Circular No. GSF 1060	 dated the 1st May 1960. Doubts have arisen as respects the directions given under Government Circular No. GSF 1060 dated the 1st May	 1960 . To remove any doubt in that behalf	 therefore	 Government is pleased to direct that the following Explanation shall be and shah be deemed always to have been added to the said circular	 namely Explanation : Nothing herein shall apply to appointments of officers	 authorities or persons or to the constitution of tribunals or other bodies which may be made by Government on or after the 1st May	 1960 and the condi tions of service of the officers	 authorities or persons appointed or the members of the Tribunals or bodies so constituted. By order and in the name of the Governor of Gujarat. Sd/ V. Isvaran Chief Secretary to the Government. " Reliance has been placed on the Explanation quoted above to emancipate Government from compliance with the Bombay rules 1044 regarding appointments of officers or their conditions of service	 an aspect we will expand	 if needed. Prima facie	 while we agree that the new State is not bound by adminis trative directions of the parent State and may free itself from it by appropriate steps	 an unguided power is suspect and a carte blanche in doing what Government fancies with any of its servants is subversive of ordered societies. We have no further probe to make into this Resolution in the present case and leave it at that. The fact of the matter is that during 1959 62	 no direct recruitments were made but many promotions were effected. Afterwards	 i.e.	 in 1963 and later	 direct recruits were appointed who	 contrary to their legal aspira tion	 were not assigned seniority over earlier promotees of 1960 63 vintage	 having regard to the factual position. The further hope that for post 1963 recruits	 dates of appoint ment	 and running of service with effect therefrom	 on the basis of a quota allocation and rota system telescoped into it	 proved a plain dupe in the seniority list prepared by government. The doubly chagrined direct recruits moved the High Court for relief	 as stated earlier. The anatomy	 in outline	 of the deputy collector 's cadre in the Gujarat Government and the grievances of the writ petitioners (respondents before us) thus emerge. On a 50:50 basis the vacancies in the cadre are filled from two sources viz.	 direct recruitment and promotion from among mamlat dars. Once appointed	 their seniority gains saliency and turns on length of service	 and though no specific provision to count commencement of service is made in the 1959 Resolu tion	 it has been understood as set out in the 1941 Resolu tion earlier mentioned. The contesting respondents plead for pushing down promotees	 based on the strict roster system of 1: 1 going by each vacancy and demur to taking the year as a unit for adjustment of ratio. Which view should prevail? Force	 there may be	 in the rival versions	 indi vidual injustice there can be whichever view were accepted and precedential pushes and pressures may also be brought into play by either side if we surrender to scriptural literality of decisions of this Court and miss the thrust of the ratio therein. In a liner sense	 and within the frame of reference of leading precedents	 each case has an individu ality and is a law unto itself. Strictly speaking	 the primary problem is one of fair interpretation of the basic government Resolution of 1959	 illumined by the purposes and motivations of good government and unravelling the implications embedded therein	 against the background of the administrative structure	 service pattern and seniority principles	 prevalent contemporane ously	 as gleaned from the records of the case. The milieu aids the meaning although lawyer 's law leans heavily	 even lop sidedly	 on judicialized lexicography. Counsel natural ly took us through rulings bearing on the meanings of words and canons of construction which merely re stated time honoured principles and dictionary culls and did not make us any the wiser in coming nearer to a resolution of the conflict here. Likewise	 arguments galore on the connota tion of the quota system of recruitment	 with abstractions	 propositions and illustrations based on decided cases	 were addressed to us	 although we 'came out by the same door as in we went ' Common 1045 sense is the first aid in the art of interpretation. The only sure approach that judges make when confronted by complexity in construction and necessity for rationalisation is on the lines justice Cardozo frankly stated :(1) "We may figure the task of the judge	 if we please	 as the task of a translator	 the reading of signs and symbols given from without. None the less	 we will not set man to such a task	 unless they have absorbed the spirit	 and have filled themselves with a love	 of the language they must read." Two groups	 the promotees who came from the lesser stations of life and the direct recruits who have had better advan tages of higher education	 fight for berths in the musical chair. In such situations	 while construing rules	 sub conscious forces have to be excluded and objectification must be attempted. Even so	 the beautiful candour of Benjamin Cardozo whispers to us that we judges "are . ever and always listening to the still small voice of the herd	 and are ever ready to defend and justify its instructions and warnings	 and accept them as the nature results of our own reasoning. This was written	 not of judges specially	 but of men and women of all classes. The training of the judge	 if coupled with what is styled the judicial temperament	 will help in some degree to emancipate him from the suggestive power of individual dislikes and prepossessions . " ( 2 ) Our effort in unlocking the meaning of the controversial Government Resolution of July 1959 and of other official notifications may inarticulately	 minimally and unwittingly	 be moulded by these broad under currents. Other facts relevant for discussion of specific points urged and other legal issues germane to the grounds of attack and defense formulated by counsel may be filled in as and when those points are taken up by us	 instead of inartistically clut tering up or en massee lugging together many government proceedings	 sequences of events and clarification of difficulties following on the division of Bombay into Gujarat and Maharashtra	 even at this preliminary stage. The pivotal questions one an interpretative exercise and the other a facet of the fundamental right of equal opportunity around which revolve the other arguments may first be set out: (1) If the Gujarat Government has	 by an administrative guideline or statutory rule directed that open market recruits and in service promotees will be ap pointed on a 50: 50 basis with the qualification that this principle shall be adhered to	 as far as practicable	 is Government free to ignore such a rule of conduct as if it were no inflexible directive	 violation of which spells illegality on the appointments made	 or does this clause obligate the State flatly to try and comply	 but if surprise circumstances or insurmountable exigencies arise which make recourse to the rule impracticable	 deviate from it without the risk of court branding such deviant appointments void? In short	 how far can (1) Benjamin N. Cardozo: The Nature of the Judicial Proc ess: Yale University Press	 P. 174. (2) Cardozo (supra) pP. 175 176. 1046 administrative pragmatics influence	 without invalidation	 the recruitment mechanics where a narrow rider providing for imponderable exigencies written into the rule	 provides for departure ? (2) Assuming there has to be a proportion of 50 50 as above indicated	 how is it to be worked out ? On a rotational basis of the direct recruits inexorably getting the first	 the third	 the fifth and such like vacancies or as an entitlement to half the total number of vacancies arising in the cadre in a particular year or other conven tional period ? Again	 does it further imply an imperative obligation on the part of Government to keep untilled all vacancies allocable to direct recruits so that they may be available to be filled up in later years with retroactive repercussions and	 if such ear marked posts are	 for admin istrative exigencies	 filled regularly	 not ad hoc	 in sub stantive vacancies	 not ex cadre posts by selection and promotion	 they must be treated as provisional nationally filled by direct recruits who may arrive long later? And consequentially	 in counting seniority	 reckon their (i.e.	 direct recruits) deemed dates of entry as prior to those actually officiating promotee deputy collectors by importing a sort of legal fiction that the direct recruits must be allowed to count service from the date when the entitled vacancy for direct recruits arose? May be a diffusive	 digressive discussion can be obviated and the focus turned on specific issues if we start with a formulation of the major points urged by Sri D. V. Patel	 counsel for the appellant	 hotly controverted	 of course	 by shri R.K. Garg for the contesting respondents. Elimination of the minor clears the ring for the major bouts. The appellants represent the group of promotee deputy collectors and the contestants are deputy collectors di rectly recruited. The Gujarat State lines up with the former	 more or less. We now set out sequentially the six point propositional formulation made by Shri Patel	 for the appellants	 although salience suggests the third item as first and	 if .we anticipate our conclusion	 the last in importance. The cornerstone of the case	 as noted earlier	 is the Bombay Government 's Resolution of 1959 fixing the proportion between direct recruits and promoted candidates	 with an emergency escape route to jump out of the fixed ratio. Shri Patel 's first point is that once the new State of Gujarat was formed	 mere administration proceedings of he former government of Bombay State ceased to be in force proprio vigore unless Gujarat adopted or continued or otherwise modified them. subject to statutory regulations and consti tutional limitations. The State of Gujarat had plenary executive power	 granted by the Constitution	 to fill up administrative posts in any manner it chose. The clarifi catory government Resolution of May 27	 1960 issued by the Gujarat Government becomes significant in this context as it contains in explanation which specifically provides that the adoption of the Bombay Government Resolution of 1959 does not	 in any way	 fetter the Gujarat Government in making appointments of officers on or after May 1	 1960 nor does the said 1959 Resolution in any manner restrict the condi tions of service of such officers. Therefore	 it is per fectly oven to the Gujarat Government to make fresh appoint ments to the posts of Deputy Collectors untremmelled by the ratio or other 1047 restrictive conditions which may be read into the Bombay Government Resolution of 1959. In this view his clients cannot suffer even if the Bombay Resolution has been breached. (2) Assuming that point No. 1 has no force	 Shri Patel submits that the various government Resolutions of the Bombay and Gujarat Governments referred to by the parties are purely administrative directions and cannot have the binding status of statutory rules. Therefore	 no rights can be derived therefrom by the direct recruits or potential direct appointees and breach of such directives or rules cannot invalidate appointments made. (3) On the further assumption that point No. (2) above is bereft of substance and the Government Resolutions referred to have statutory character	 the very terms of the 1959 Government Resolution provide a sensible safely value	 wisely anticipatory when we remember the pragmatic considerations and administrative exigencies that the slow moving apparatus of the Government of a newly formed State has to face or be puzzled with. The 1959 Resolution which is the 'rounding document ' of the rights of the direct recruits itself states that the propor tion between the two categories is to be applied 'as far as practicable '. Therefore	 the rule is neither exception proof nor abstractly absolute but realistic and flexible true to life. Rigidly to read the rule is surely to misread it. Since it contemplates special situations of impracticability it is but right for the Court so to construe the Resolution	 in the light of the explanation offered by the State for non recruitment directly until 1963	 as to make it adminis tratively viable and reasonably workable If such an imagina tive and informed judicial insight plays upon the rule	 the difficulties in making immediate recruitments from the open market by the Public Service Commission may sufficiently absolve the State from the supposed violation of Government Resolution of 1959 So viewed	 the orders of promotion of the appellants are in order and unassailable. (4) & (5) The mandate of equality ensconced in Arts 14 and 16 cannot handcuff justice by pushing down the promotees if the Sen iority List in the face of their actual service and legal appointment. The attack based on article 16 that the roster method of filling up posts is integral to the quota system is baseless. Quota without rotate is also reasonable and constitutional as much as quota plus rota. The choice	 both being permissible and fair	 is left to the Administration	 the Court not ferretting or dissecting to detect deadly traces of discrimination or unreasonableness. (6) The assignment of "deemed dates ' of commencement of service is not unreasonable but is often adopted by Governments when integrating into a common cadre officers drawn from differ ent States or Departments or divisions. Novel compulsions demand novel solutions and law accepts life 's expediency save where the public Vower has been obliquely exercised or unreasonableness is writ large on the face of the process. Such a stigma being absent	 the promotees cannot be dis lodged from their notches in the ladder. We are mercifully absolved from making the discussional journey over a long mileage covering the poly pointed formu lation since two essential issues may virtually be decisive of the case. Both sides have agreed to this abbreviation and the other grounds have dropped out of effective contest in the long course of arguments. Enough upto the day! 1048 It is fair to state even at this stage that be the Bombay G.O. of 1959 merely administrative or really statuto ry	 both the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench have head the Gujarat State bound by it. The rule of law is tile enemy of arbitrary absolutism and the discretion to disobey is a doctrine of despotism and cannot be subscribed to by a Court merely because the state chooses to label a rule or conduct anecting the rights of others an administra tive regulation. In a constitutional order governed by the rule of law	 whim or humour	 even if benignly motivated	 masquerading as executive discretion is anathema to law. When power is vested under the Constitution or other statute in the State to promulgate rules of conduct attracting oth ers	 such rules must ordinarily govern the State and subject alike. When there are service rules affecting the public services	 they may either be in exercise of the executive power of the State under article 162 or rules with legislative colour framed under the proviso to article 309 of the Constitu tion. It is fair for the Administration in a democratic system employing expanding armies of government servants	 whose lot in life and career prospects will be governed by recruitment	 conduct and disciplinary rules	 to respect	 beyond suspicion	 the rule of law by exercising statutory power as distinguished from executive power	 even where it has an option. Of course	 in exceptional situations	 or sudden exigencies and for new experiments to be tried	 the framing of statutory rules under article 309	 proviso	 may be postponed and executive orders immediately promulgated. The best judge is the State Government exercising its power justly and efficiently. For the art of government is beset with the perils of a journey through life 's jungle and textbook prescriptions can prove ruinous. We may point to another problem. It has often been difficult to discover whether a particular set of rules is framed under the provi so to article 309 or	 in mere exercise of article 162	 although it is desirable that the State makes it explicit. We are	 however	 not called upon to investigate this perplexing aspect because	 as stated earlier	 the High Court has held that the State is bound by the Bombay G.O. of 1959. Counsel for the appellants	 Shri Patel	 and counsel for the State	 Shri Bhandare	 have rightly acquiesed in that posi tion and proceeded with their arguments on that footing. This point (which is the first) therefore	 does not need our pronouncement. The other points	 pedentically capable of being sepa rately dealt with	 highlight what we have earlier indicated as the two telling questions of law that settle the outcome of the appeal. We will seek the tight of common sense to solve them and later test the conclusions with reference to binding rulings of this Court. The first question that falls for considerations	 there fore	 is as to whether the 50:50 ratio 'as between direct recruits and promoted hands is subject to the saving clause 'as far as practicable '. Can Government vary the ratio ? Ordinarily No. Is it permissible at all ? Probably	 yes	 given proof of the government 's case that it was not practicable for the State to recruit from the open market qualified persons through the specialised agency of the Public Service Commission. The factual basis for this plea of extenuation will be examined presently but	 according to Shri R.K. Garg	 appearing for the contestants	 1049 even if the alibi of the State were true	 it furnished no legal justification for deviation from the application of the rule. He interpreted	 'as far as practicable ' occurring in the Government Resolution	 in a very different way and submitted that to adopt the appellant 's view on this aspect was to subvert the substance and nullify the conscience of the binding Bombay Resolution of 1959. Shri Garg argued that the language of the critical G.O. was peremptory	 that for the high purpose of improving administrative efficiency a balanced mix of old experience (gained by long service) and young abilities (proved by competitive selection) was hit upon as half and half from each category and the Court could not fall for any construc tion of the words 'as far as practicable ' which would frus trate this goal of overall efficiency unless the semantic search left no other option. Far from there being no alternative interpretation	 the benignant purpose of the Resolution pressed forward to a reasonable meaning that 'as far as practicable ' related not to the tampering with the proportion of the mix but in permitting provisional varia tions or ad hoc solutions or emergency arrangements to meet a difficulty of the Administration without making formal or regular 'appointments ' to the posts meddling irrevocably with the proportion in the prescription. Later	 when direct recruits were secured	 they would be entitled to their quota vacancies and commencement of seniority from the date of their appointment. Logomachic exercises are the favourite of the forensic system but too barren to fascinate the Court and too luxuri ous	 in our penury of time to indulge. Should we chase decisions and dictionaries and finer verbal nuances with explorative industry ? The sense of the setting	 the 'why ' the author whispers through his words and the warning 'not this. not this ' that the objective understanding of the totality of the socially relevant scheme instils these light up the interpretative track alone the criss cross woods of case law and lexicons. Led by that lodestar	 we will eye the situation afresh. In doing so	 we must first set down the meaning Shri Patel suggests	 and Shri Bhandare supports	 and the manner in which these appellants claim that their appointments and seniority are sequestered by the saving words 'as far as practicable '. What does 'as far as practicable ' or like expression mean	 in simple anglo saxon ? Practicable	 feasible	 possi ble	 performable	 are more or less interchangeable. A skiagraph of the 1959 Resolution reveals that the revival of the direct recruitment	 method was motivated by 'the inter est of administration ' an overriding object which must cast the benefit of doubt if two meanings with equal persuasive ness contend. Secondly	 going by the text	 50% of the substantive vacancies occurring in the cadre should be filled in by selection in accordance With appended Rules. 'As far as practicable ' finds a place in the Resolution and the Rule. In the context what does it qualify ? As far as possible 50% ? That is to say	 if 50% is not readily forth coming	 then less ? Within what period should be imprac ticabilitv to felt ? What is the content of impracticabi litv ' in the given administrative 'setting ? Contrariwise	 can you not contend that impracticability is 1050 not a license to deviate	 a discretion to disobey or a liberty with the ratio ? Administrative tone is too impor tant to be neglected but if sufficient numbers to fill the direct recruits ' quota are not readily available	 substan tive vacancies may be left intact to be filled up when direct recruits are available. Since the exigencies of administration cannot wait	 expediency has a limited role through the use of the words 'as far as practicable '. Thereby Government is authorised to make ad hoc appointments by promotion or by creation of ex cadre posts to be filled up by promotees	 to be absorbed in the 50% portion falling to the promotional category in later years. In short 'as far as practicable means	 not interfering with the ratio which fulfils the interest of administration	 but flexible provision clothing government with powers to meet special situations where the normal process of the government Reso lution cannot flow smooth. It is a matter of accent and import which affords the final test in the choice between the two parallel interpretations. We have given close thought to the competing contentions and are inclined to the view that the former is the better. Certainly	 Shri Garg is right that the primary purpose of the quota system is to improve administrative efficiency. After all	 the Indian administration is run for the service of the people and not for opportunities for promotion to a few persons. But theories of public administration and experiments in achieving efficiency are matters of govern mental policy and business management. Apparently	 the State	 having given due consideration to these factors	 thought that a blended brew would serve best. Even so	 it could not 'have been the intention of government to create artificial situations	 import legal fictions and complicate the composition of the cadre by deviating from the natural course. The State probably intended to bring in fresh talent to the extent reasonably available but not at the sacrifice of sufficiency of hands at a given time nor at the cost of creating a vacuum by keeping substantive vacancies unfilled for long. The straight forward answer seems to us to be that the State	 in tune with the mandate of the rule	 must make serious effort to secure hands to fill half the number of vacancies from the open market. If it does not succeed	 despite honest and serious effort	 it qualifies for depar ture from the rule. If it has become non feasible	 imprac ticable and procrastinatory to get the requisite quota of direct recruits	 having done all that if could	 it was free to fill the posts by promotion of suitable hands if the filling up of the vacancies was administratively necessary and could not wait. Impracticable cannot be equated with 'impossible ' nor with unplatable and we cannot agree with the learned judges of the High Court in construing it as colossally incapable of compliance. The short test	there fore	 is to find out whether the government	 in the present case	 has made effective efforts	 doing all that it reasona bly can	 to recruit from the open market necessary numbers of qualified hands. We do not agree that the compulsion of the rule goes to the extreme extent of making government keep the vacancies in the quota of the direct recruits open and to meet the urgent needs of administration by creating ex cadre posts or making ad hoc appointments or resorting to other out of the way expedients. The sense of the rule is that as far as possible the quota system must be kept up and	 if not prac 1051 ticable	 promotees in the place of direct recruits or direct recruits in the place of promotees may be inducted applying the regular procedures	 without suffering the seats to lie indefinitely vacant. The next question then is as to whether government has satisfied the Court that efforts had been made to secure direct recruits and failure to secure such hands is the explanation for resort to. promotions of mamlatdars. The reason for delay in making appointments of direct recruits during the year 1960	 1961 and 1962 has been set out by the State before us. It appears that a requisition for 12 posts of deputy collectors was sent to the Gujarat Public Service Commission on October 31	 1960 but the Commission raised some linguistic queries 'regarding the requirement of ade quate knowledge of Marathi and Gujarati by the candidates. Anyway	 various points were raised from time to time in the correspondence between the Commission and Government and	 eventually	 the 'former held a competitive examination for the posts of deputy collectors in July 1962	 declared the results in January 1963 and sent up 	its recommendations in the following February. Government issued orders for ap pointment of the candidates so selected by the Public Serv ice Commission in May 1963. This is a working explanation	 prima facie good and not rebutted as got up. If it is not necessary for the State Government to have recourse to recondite processes of ad hoc appointments and creation of ex cadre posts and if government has taken active steps in the direction of direct recruitment	 the exception to the Government Resolution comes into operation. Direct recruit ment ordinarily involves processing by the Public Service Commission	 an independent body which functions at its own pace. If Government had excluded the posts of Deputy Col lectors from the purview of the Public Service Commission with a view to achieve expeditious recruitment	 it might have been exposed to the criticism that the normal method was being by passed with oblique motives. Having looked at the matter from a pragmatic angle	 we are 	convinced that the government did what it could and need not have done what it ordinarily should not have done. Therefore the con clusion is inevitable although Shri Garg 's argument to the contrary is ingenious that the State had tried	 as far as practicable	 to fill 50% of the substantive vacancies from the open market	 but failed during the years 1960 62 and that therefore it was within its powers under the relevant rule to promote mamlatdars who	 otherwise	 complied with the requirements of efficiency. Now we move on to the more thorny question of quota and rota. Shri Garg urges that the rotational mechanics is implicit in the quota system and the two cannot be delinked. To shore up this submission he relies on what he propounds as the correct command of the rule of 'quota '. In his view	 1: 1 simply means one direct recruit or promotee followed	 vacancy by vacancy	 by the other. To maintain 'the propor tion in compliance with the quota fixture	 Government must go by each post as it falls vacant and cannot circumvient this necessity by year war reckoning of vacancies and keep ing up the ratio. The counter view put forward by Shri Parekh	 for the appellant	 is that 338SC1/76 1052 quota and rota are not indissolubly wedded and are separate and separable. In the present case	 according to him it is an error to import 'rota ' where the rule has spelt out only 'quota ' as a governing principle. The Usual practice	 sanctioned by rulings of this Court	is to go by the year as a unit for working out the quota. Here a again we are not disposed to hold	 having special regard to the recent decisions of this Court cited before us that 'quota ' is so the recent decisions of this where the former is expressly prescribed	 interlocked with 'rota	 that where the former is expressly prescribed	 the latter is impliedly inscribed. Let us logicise a little. A quota necessarily postulates more than one source of recruitment. But does it demand the manner in which each source is to be provided for after recruitment	 especially in the matter of seniority ? Cannot quota stand independent of rota ? You may fix a quota for leach category but that fixes the entry. The quota methodology may itself take many forms vacancy wise ratio	 cadre composition wise pro portion period wise or numberwise regulation. Myriad ways can be conceived of Rotational or roster system is a com monly adopted and easily understood method of figuring out the placement of officers on entry. It is not the only mode in the code and cannot be read as an inevitable consequence. If that much is logical	 then what has been done here is legal. Of course	 Shri Garg 's criticism iS that mere 'qu ota ' is not viable without provision for seniority and	 if nothing more is found in the rule	 the quota itself must be understood to apply to each post as and when it falls to be filled. If exigencies of administration demand quick post ing in the vacancy and one source (here	 direct recruit ment) has gone dry for a while	 then the proper course is to wait for a direct recruit and give him notional date of entry as of the quota vacancy and manage to keep the wheels of government moving through improvised promotions	 express ly stripping such ad hocist of rights flowing from temporary occupancy. We have earlier dealt with the same submission in a slightly different form and rejected it. Nothing more remains to be said about it. What follows and matters on entry into service is seniori ty which often settles the promotional destiny of the var ious brands of incumbents. Naturally	 the inter se struggle turns how best to bend the rules to one 's good account. Shri Garg criticised the thoughtways apparent in the argu ment	 backed by some rulings	 that	 quota being delinked from rota	 annual intake is the unit for adjusting the seniority among candidates from the two sources. This is an innovation dehors the rule	 he says. We do not think so. The question is not whether the year being taken as the unit is the only course but whether there is anything in the rule prescribing Government taking it as the unit or prescribing some other specific unit. It is obvious that the Resolution of 1959 is silent on how to allocate or reckon the quota as also on how to compute 'seniority and Government has a good alibi for taking the year as the unit and length of continu ous service as determining seniority. The first is evident from the .reading of the 1959 Resolution in the light of some ruling of this Court and the second from the 1941 Resolution. Moreover	 there is nothing in the Resolution of 1959 preventing Government from treating a year as the unit. 1053 We therefore reach the following conclusions: 1. The promotions of mamlatdars made by Government between 1960 and 1962 are saved by the 'as far as practicable ' proviso and therefore valid	 Here it falls to be noticed that in 1966 regular rules have been flamed for promotees and direct recruits flowing into the pool of Deputy Collectors on the same quota basis but with a basic difference. The saving provision 'as far as practicable ' has been deleted in the 1966 rules. The conse quence bears upon seniority even if the year is treated as the unit for quota adjustment. If any promotions have been made in excess of the quota set apart for the mamlatdars after rules in 1966 were made	 the direct recruits have a legitimate right to claim that the appointees in excess of the allocable ratio from among mamlatdars will have to be pushed down to later years when their promo tions can be regularised by being absorbed in their lawful quota for those years. To sim plify	 by illustration	 if 10 deputy collec tors ' substantive vacancies exist in 1967 but 8 promotees were appointed and two direct recruits alone were secured	 there is a clear transgression of the 50: 50 rule. The redun dancy of 3 hands from among promotees cannot claim to be regularly appointed on a permanent basis. For the time being they occupy the posts and the only official grade that can be extended to them is to absorb them in the subsequent vacancies allocable to promotees. This will have to be worked out down the line wherever there has been excessive representa tion of promotees in the annual intake. Shri Parekh	 Counsel for the appellants has fairly conceded this position. The quota rule does not	 inevitably	 invoke the application of the rota rule. The impact of this position is that if sufficient number of direct recruits have not been forthcoming in the years since 1960 to fill in the ratio due to them and those deficient vacancies have. been filled up by promotees	 later direct recruits cannot claim 'deemed ' dates of appointment for seniority in service with effect from the time	 according to the rota or 'turn	 the direct recruits ' vacancy arose. Seniority will depend on the length of contin uous officiating service and cannot be upset by later arrivals from the open market save to the extent to which any excess promotees may have to be pushed down as indicated earlier. These formulations based on the commonsense understand ing of the Resolution of 1959 have to be tested in the light of decided cases. After all	 we live in a judicial system where earlier curial wisdom	 unless competently over ruled	 binds the Court. The decisions cited 1054 before us start with the leading case in Mervyn Coutindo & Ors. vs Collector of Customs	 Bombay(1) and closes with the last pronouncement in Badami vs State of Mysore & Ors. This time span has seen dicta go zigzag but we see no diffi culty in tracing a common thread of reasoning. However	 there are divergencies in the ratiocination between Mervyn Coutindo (Supra) and Govind Dattaray Kelkar & Ors. vs Chief Controller of Imports and Exports & Ors.(3) on the one hand and S.G. Jaisinghani vs Union of India(4) .Bishan Sarup Gupta vs Union of India	(5) Union of India & Ors. vs Bishan Sarup Gupta(6) and A.K. Subbraman & Ors. vs 'Union of India(7) on the other	 especially on the rota system and the year being regarded as a unit	 that this Court may one day have to harmonize the discordance unless Government wakes up to the need for properly drafting its service rules so as to eliminate litigative waste of its servants ' energies. In Mervyn Coutindo the validity of the rotational system as applied in fixing the seniority inter se between promo tees and direct recruits fell for decision in the context of the specific rule applicable to Customs ' appraisers. One of the principles in the circular which contained the rules related to the comparative seniority of the two categories. 'It provides '	 says the Court in summarizing the rule	 "that relative seniority of direct re cruits and promotees shah be determined ac cording to the rotation of vacancies between direct recruits and promotees which shall be based on the quota of reservation for direct recruitment and promotion respectively in the recruitment rules. It was further explained that a roster should be maintained based on the reservation for direct recruitment and promotion in the recruitment rules. Where	 for example	 the reservation for each method is 50 per cent	 the roster will run as fol lows(1) promotion	 (2) direct recruitment	 (3) promotion	 (4) direct recruitment	 and so on. Appointments should be made in accordance with this roster and seniority determined accordingly. A question has been raised whether the circular of 1940 to which we have already referred survived after this circular of 1959; but in our opinion it is unnecessary to decide that question	 for the circular of 1959 itself lays down that seniority shall be determined accordingly	 i.e. in accordance with the rotational system	 depending upon the quota reserved for direct recruitment and promotion respectively. It is this circular which	 according to the respondent	 has been followed in determining the seniority of Appraisers in 1963". 	 In the face of such a plain directive in the relevant rule regarding relative seniority for the solution of the problem that arises before us where such a seniority provision is absent and the relevant seniority (1) ; (2) [1976] 1 SCR 815. (3) [1967] 2 SCR 29. (4) ; (5) [1975] Supp. SCR 491. (6) ; (7) [1975] 2 SCR 979. 1055 provision is different	 Mervyn Coutindo (supra) cannot be of any assistance. That case is authority for the proposition it decides in the matrix of the special facts and rule therein. In view of the words of the Circular 'that senior ity as between direct recruits and promotees should be determined in accordance with the roster which has also been specified . the inextricable interlinking between quota and rota springs from the specific provision rather than by way of any general proposition. Mervyn Coutindo (Supra) cannot therefore rescue the respondents. Nor does the refer ence to a 'service ' being divided into two parts	 derived from two sources of recruitment	 help Shri Garg 's clients. The rule of 'carry forward ' struck down in T. Devadasan vs Union of India & Anr.(1) has no relevance 	to a situation where the whole cadre of a particular service is divided into two parts. Apart from the fact that it is doubtful whether Devadasan 's case survives State of Kerala vs N.M. Thomas & Ors. (2) there is no application of the 'carry forward ' rule at all in fact situations where two sources of recruitment are designated in a certain proportion and shortfalls occur in the one or the other category. In such a case	 what is needed is conformity to the prescription of the proportion and No. question of carrying anything forward strictly arises. It is true that Mervyn (Supra) does not support the year by year intake as the yardstick; but the reason is obvious the rule is specific. Kelkar (Supra) also dealt with the ratio prescribed as between direct recruits and promotees. Many grounds of attack were levelled there	 one of which was that the rota tional system would itself violate the principle of equal opportunity enshrined in the Constitution (article 16(1) ). The Court repelled this contention. Of course	 promotions made on an ad hoc basis confer no rights to the posts on the appointees	 as was clearly pointed out in that decision. In the instant case it is common ground that the appointments are not on a purely ad hoc basis but have been regularly made in accordance with the rules to fill substantive vacan cies except that the promotees have exceeded their quota	 direct recruits being unavailable. Kelkar (supra) stands on a different footing	 and hardly advances the position advanced by Shri Garg. Jaisinghani (Supra) which has had a die hard survival through Bishan Sarup Gupta vs Union of India(3) and Union of India & Ors. vs Bishan Sarup Gupta(4) (if one may refer to. the two cases flowing out of Jaisinghani (supra) in that fashion)	 has been referred to by both sides at the bar. It was relied on by Mr. Garg for the strong observation of Ramaswami	 J. that the absence of arbitrary power is the first essential of the rule of law upon which our constitu tional system is based. He has also drawn attention .to the suggestion made in that decision 'to the ' government that for future years the roster system should be adopted by framing an appropriate rule for working out the quota be tween direct recruits and the promotees . '. We may straightway state that our Constitutional system is very allergic to arbitrary power but there is nothing arbitrary made out in the present case against the government. The second observation in (1) ; (2) ; (3) [1975] Supp. SCR 491. (4) ; 1056 Jaisinghani (Supra) is of a suggestion that for future years the roster system linking up quota with rota	 may well be adopted by government. It is not the interpretation of any existing rule nor laying down of a rule of law	 so much so we cannot have any guideline therefrom to apply to the present case. The Government could no doubt	 if it so thought expedient	 frame a specific rule incorporating the roster system so as to regulate seniority. But we should not forget that seniority is the manifestation of official experience	 the process of metabolism of service	 over the years	 of civil servants	 by the Administration and	 there fore	 it is appropriate that as far as possible he who has actually served longer benefits better in the future. More over	 the search for excellence receives a jolt from the rule of equality and the State is hard put to it in striking a happy balance between the two criteria without impairment of administrative efficiency. Broadly speaking	 the Court has to be liberal and circumspect where the area is trickly or sensitive	 since administration by court writ may well run haywire. Moving on	 we may start off with the statement that the last case Badami (Supra) lays down the incontrovertibly harmless principle that quotas that are fixed are inaltera ble according to governmental exigencies. But there	 unlike here	 no saving provision 'as far as practicable ' existed and here post 1966 promotees have to suffer a push down where their appointments are in .excess of. the promotee quota. Nothing directly bearing on our controversy could be discerned by us in that decision. Gupta I (Supra) an off shoot of Jaisinghani (Supra)	 proceeds on the assumption that the quota is for .a year. Whether the rule stated so or not	 that was probably the practice and there was nothing unreasonable in it. Even if the rule as such had expired	 it could	 according to that decision	 be followed as a guideline. Government had to follow some guiding principle and not be led by its fancy	 as each occasion arose. Palekar	 J. expressed the view of the Court thus: "When the rule is followed as a guideline and appointments made	 a slight deviation from the quota would not be material. But if there is an enormous deviation	 other considerations may arise. " In the present case	 prior to 1963	 there was departure from the quota system and that was sanctioned by the rule itself because of special circumstances. For subsequent periods	 if by taking the year as a unit there have been surplus promotees beyond their allocation even after taking into account impracticability of getting direct recruits upto 1966 when new statutory rules were enacted	 then such spill overs	 could and should	 as indicated by this Court	 be set off and absorbed in the later allocable vacancies	 the pro tempore illegal appointments being thus regularised. Of course	 appointees on an ad hoc basis are never clothed with any rights and have to quit when the exit time arrives but here there are none. In Gupta II(Supra) the Court ruled: 1057 "If there were promotion in any year in excess of the quota those promotions were merely invalid for that year but they were not invalid for all time. They can be regularised by being absorbed in the quota for the later years. That is the reason why this Court advisedly used the expression 'and onwards ' just to enable the Government to push down excess promotions to later years so that these promotions can be absorbed in the lawful quota for those years. " Such is the essence of the two Gupta cases (Supra). Law conceptualises anew every time life inseminates it with new needs and we have in Gupta the innovation of temporary invalidity of an appointment clinically dead but later resuscitated ? Jurisprudence burgeons from the left neces sities of society. A.K. Subbaraman (Supra) relying on .Gupta 11 (Supra) and going further	 has silenced the direct recruits with reference to the precise contention now urged by Shri Garg that rota being imbedded in the womb of the quota system their co existence could not be snapped. While quota and rota may constitutionally co exist their separation is also constitutionally permissible	 if some 'reasonable ' way	 not arbitrary whim	 were resorted to. Even what is 'reasona ble ' springs from sort of reflexes manifesting social sub consciousness	 as it were. Nothing absolutely valid exists and rationality and justice themselves are relative. Within these great mental limitations	 the Court 'S observations in Subbaraman (Supra) have to be decided. This brief and quick survey of decided cases	 and the submissions considered by us in the judicial crucible	 yield the following conclusions	 leaving aside the question of 'confirmation ' in service which	 in the Gujarat set up	 leaves our controversy untouched: (a) The quota system does not necessitate the adoption of the rotational rule in practi cal application. Many ways of working out 'quota ' prescription can be devised of which rota is certainly one. (b) While laying down a quota when fill ing up vacancies in a cadre from more than one source	 it is open to Government	 subject to tests under article 16	 to choose 'a year ' or other period or the vacancy by vacancy basis to work out the quota among the sources. But once the Court is satisfied	 examining for constitutionality the method proposed	 that there is no invalidity	 administrative tech nology may have free play in choosing one or other of the familiar processes of implement ing the quota rule. We	 as Judges	 cannot strike down the particular scheme because it is unpalatable to forensic taste. (c) Seniority	 normally. is measured by length of continuous	 officiating service the actual is easily accepted as the legal. This does not preclude a different prescription	 constitutionally tests being satisfied. 1058 (d) A periodisation is needed in the case to settle rightly the relative claims of promotees and direct recruits. 1960 62 forms period A and 1962 onwards forms period. B. Promotees regularly appointed during period A in excess of their quota	 for want of direct recruits (reasonably sought but not secured and because tarrying longer would injure the administration) can claim their whole length of service for seniority even against direct recruits 'who may turn up in succeeding peri ods. (e) Promotees who have been fitted into vacancies beyond their quota during the period B the year being regarded as the unit must suffer survival as invalid appointees acquir ing new life when vacancies in their quota fall to be filled up. To that extent they will step down	 rather be pushed down as against direct recruits who were later but regularly appointed within their quota. On this basis	 the judgment of the High Court stands substantially modified	 but preparation of a new seniority list becomes necessitous. We set aside the judgment under appeal but direct the State Government to draw up de novo a gradation list showing inter se seniority ' on the lines this judgment directs. The subject has been pending so long that very expeditious administrative finalisation is part of justice. Officials live in the short run even if Administra tions live in the long run. We direct the State to act quickly. Lack of adequate articulation of simple points regarding rotation and seniority	 and the amber light shed by case law on the questions raised	 warrant the direction that parties shall bear their costs throughout. The unlovely impact of these protracted and legalistic proceedings makes us epilogue	 an unusual step in a judg ment	 but pathetically necessitous for the renovation of the judicial process. Law is not a 'brooding omnipotence in the sky ' nor a sort of secretariat asoterica known only to higher officialdom. But lengthy legal process	 where administrative immediacy is the desideratum	 is a remedy worse than the malady. The fact that the present case has taken around 5 working days for oral arguments is a sad commentary on the system	 which compels litigents to seek extra curial forums. Judge Brian Mokenna was right (and the Indian judicial process needs systemic change 'since his wise words apply also to our judicature) when he said: "The fault is that the rules of our procedure which by their discouragement of written argument make possible extensively protracted hearings in open court. Those re sponsible might think more of changing them. In civil cases a written argument supplemented by a short oral discussion	 would sometime 's save a great deal of time." To streamline and to modernise court management is a Cinderella subject in India	 as elsewhere. We conclude	 by repeating what Chief 1059 Justice Warran Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court said	 in 1970	 in his address to the American Bar Association: "In the final third of the century we are still trying to operate the courts with fundamentally the same basic methods	 the same procedures and the same machinery	 Roscoe Pound said were not good enough in 1906. In the super market age we are trying to operate the courts with craker barrel corner grocer methods and equipment vintage 1900. " We too have miles to go for law and justice to meet. P.H.P. Appeal allowed.

Summary:
The appellants are the promotee Deputy Collectors in the State of Gujarat. The contesting respondents are the direct recruits to the parent cadre of Deputy Collectors. 7 Deputy Collectors who are the contesting respondents in this appeal and who were directly recruited as Deputy Collectors in and after 1963 claimed that they were senior to the appellants who were the promotees promoted as Deputy Col lectors between the years 1960 and 1963 by filing a Writ Petition in the High Court. The routine source of recruit ment to the posts of Deputy Collectors used to be Mamlatdars who were promoted as Deputy Collectors. In 1939	 direct recruitment policy was also evolved for this post. By an order of 1941 the mode of determining seniority between direct recruits and promotees was settled. As far as the direct recruits were concerned	 their seniority was to run from the date of their appointment on probation and in the case of promotees such service was to begin with promotion in substantive vacancy if continued without break. During the year 1950 to 1959 the direct recruitment was discontin ued. By the Bombay Government Resolution dated 30 7 1959	 the mode of direct recruitment was again started and the proportion in which the recruitment from the two sources	 namely	 the direct recruits and the promotees	 was fixed as 50: 50 as far as practicable. On 1 5 1960	 the Bombay State was bifurcated into Gujarat and Maharashtra. On 1 5 1960	 a circular was issued by the Gujarat Government adopting the rules	 resolu tions	 notifications etc. of the Bombay State. By a further clarificatory resolution dated 27 5 1960 Gujarat Government provided that nothing contained in the circular dated 1 5 1960 shall apply to appointments of officers	 authorities or persons which may be made by the Government on or after 1 5 1960. During the year 1959 62	.no direct recruitment was made but many promotions were effected. The Writ Peti tion filed by the direct recruits was dismissed by a learned Single judge of the High Court. The Division Bench of the High Court	 however	 accepted the appeal of the con testing respondents. In an appeal by Special Leave the appellants contended: 1. The expression 'as far as practicable ' in the resolution of 1959 provides a sensible safety valve. Therefore	 the rule is neither exception proof nor abstractly absolute but realistic and flexibly true to life. The mandate of equality in Articles 14 and 16 does not require pushing down the promotees in the seniority list in the fact of their actual service and legal appointment. Rotation is not implicit in quota. Quota without rotation is also reasonable and constitutional as much as quota with rotation. The choice	 both being permissible and fair	 is left to the Administration. The contesting respondents contended (i) The rule of law is the enemy of arbitrary absolutism and the discretion to disobey is a doctrine of despotism and cannot be sub scribed to by a Court. 1038 (ii) 'As far as practicable does not permit the State to deviate from it. It merely authorises provisional variations or ad hoc solutions or emergency arrangements to meet the difficulty of the Administration without making formal or regular appointments to the posts in question. (iii) Rotational system is implicit in quota. (iv) Any deviation from rotational system is violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Con stitution. Allowing the appeal held: 1. The State in tune with the mandate of the quota rule must make serious efforts to secure hands to fill half the number of vacancies from the open market. If it does not succeed despite honest and serious effort	 it qualifies for departure from the rule. If it has become non feasible	 imprac ticable to get the requisite quota of direct recruits having done all that it could	 it was free to fill the Post by promotion of suit able hands	 if the filling up of the vacan cies was administratively necessary and could not wait. The sense of the rule is that as far as possible the quota system must be kept up and if not practicable promotees in place of direct recruits or direct recruits in place of promotees may be inducted applying the regular procedures without suffering the seats to lie indefinitely vacant. [1050 F H	 1051 A] 2. The Government sent a requisition for 12 posts of Deputy Collectors to the Gujarat Public Service Commission as early as in October	 1960. On account of commission having raised various queries including require ments of adequate knowledge of Marathi and Gujarati	 the examination could not be held during the years 1960 1962. The expla nation given by the Government is prima facie good and not rebutted as got up. Since the Government took active steps in the direction of direct recruitment	 the excep tion to the Government Resolution comes into operation. The Government in the present case did all that it could. [1051 A F] 3. Quota is not inter locked with Rota. [1052 A] (a) The quota system does not necessitate the adoption of the rotational rule in practical application. Many ways of working out 'quota ' prescription can be devised of which rota is certainly one. (b) While laying down a quota when filling up vacancies in a cadre from more than one source	 it is open to Government. subject to tests under article 16	 to choose 'a year ' or other period of the vacancy by vacancy basis to work out the quota among the sources. But once the Court is satisfied	 examining for constitutionality the method proposed	 that there is no invalidity	 administrative technology may have free play in choosing one or other of the familiar processes of imple menting the quota rule. We	 as Judges	 cannot strike down the particular scheme because it is unpalatable to forensic taste. (c) Seniority	 normally	 is measured by length of continuous. officiating service the actual is easily accepted as the legal. This does not preclude a different prescription	 consti tutionality tests being satisfied. (d) Promotees regularly appointed during period 1960 62 in excess of their quota	 for want of direct recruits can claim their whole length of service for seniority. (e) Promotees appointed in 1963 and onwards in excess of their quota should be pushed down and absorbed in vacancies in their quota during subsequent years. [1057 E H	 1058 A C] 1039 Mervyn Coutindo & Ors. vs Collector of Customs	 Bombay [1967] 3 S.C.R. distinguished	 Badami vs Stale of Mysore & Ors. [1976] 1 S.C.R. 815 distinguished	 Govind Dattaray Kelkar and Ors. vs Chief Controller of Imports and Exports & Ors. [1967] 2 S.C.R. 29 distinguished and doubted. S.G. Jaisinghani vs Union of India [1967] 2 S.C.R. 703 distinguished. Bishan Sarup Gupta vs Union of India [1975] Supp. S.C.R. 491	 Union of India vs Bishan Sarup Gupta [1975] 1 S.C.R. 104 and A.K. Subbraman & Ors. vs Union of India [1975] 2 S.C.R. followed. The Court directed the Government to draw up expedi tiously a fresh seniority list in the light of the observa tions made in the Judgment. [1058 H] Obiter: (Lengthy legal process	 where administrative immediacy is the desideratum is a remedy worse than the malady. The fact that the present case has taken around 5 working days for oral arguments is a sad commentarY on the legal system. To streamline and to modernise Court manage ment is a cinderella subject in India	 as elsewhere. We too have miles to go for law and justice to meet).