State-wise seniority reorganisation upheld where promotional chances are not conditions of service and no mala fides were shown.

A State may reorganise Class III health inspector posts into a state-wise cadre and seniority structure, and a prior district-wise provisional seniority list must yield to the revised cadre arrangement. The change does not amount to a prohibited variation of conditions of service under Section 115(7) of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 because promotional chances are not themselves conditions of service. A challenge based on mala fides also fails absent specific pleadings or material showing that the reorganisation was adopted only to prejudice one group or benefit another. The state-wise seniority list was therefore upheld as a valid administrative restructuring.

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Issues: Whether the State was competent to replace the earlier district-wise seniority arrangement with a state-wise cadre and seniority list for Senior and Junior Health Inspectors, and whether such reorganisation violated the protection under Section 115(7) of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 or was vitiated by mala fides.

Analysis: The orders issued in 1962 showed that the Government had created three kinds of cadres for Class III posts and placed Senior and Junior Health Inspectors in the state-wise cadre. The direction to prepare a fresh seniority list on that basis applied to all persons in service, and the earlier provisional list of 1958, which was district-wise, had to give way to the new cadre structure. The effect on promotional prospects did not amount to a variation of conditions of service within the meaning of Section 115(7), because chances of promotion are not conditions of service. On mala fides, there was no specific pleading or material showing that the change was made solely to harm the respondents or to favour one group of employees.

Conclusion: The State's action in scrapping the district-wise list and preparing a state-wise seniority list was upheld, and the challenge based on Section 115(7) and mala fides failed.

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