DATAR, J. ( 1 ) THE short question that anses in this writ petition is as to whether the Railway Board and the General Manager (Personnel) Southern Railway, madras have competence to issue the impugned orders in this writ petition and it arises in this way. ( 2 ) THE petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Ward Keeper by the second respondent and later confirmed in the said post. In the Stores department there were two units or wings i. e. , Store Keeping Unit and the Ministerial Unit. The petitioner belonged to the Store Keeping Unit. The promotions in each of the units was on a unit wise basis. A decision was taken by the Railway Board to merge both the units and for preparation of a common seniority list. An extract of the relevant portion of the said decision contained in the copy of the letter of the Railway Board dated 19-11-1965 which is marked as Exhibit E, is as given below. "3. It has been represented to the Railway Board that the benefits of higher grade posts on percentage basis in the clerical should be extended to the Asst. Ward Keepers, the Board has reviewed the matter and decided (i) that the category of Asst. Ward Keeper's should be merged with clerks and a common seniority list complied on the basis of total length of service, substantive and officiating in the grade. (For this purpose the grades of clerk Rs. 110-180 (AS) and asst. Ward Keepers 110-200 A (AS) would be treated as equivalent ). (ii) and then to extend the benefits of upgradation of posts on percentage basis admissible in the clerical cadres as provided in the board's letter No. PC-60/ps-5 08 1 (i) of 29-8-62 read with their letter no. PC-60/05-1 of 05-1 of 10-9-62 the additional higher grade posts to be created on account of these orders should be operated prospectively from the date of sanction. Consequent upon the abolition of the category of Assistant Ward keepers the Board have also decided that in future, posts of Ward keepers in the grade of Rs 210-320 (AS) should be filled by calling for options from the clerical staff in grade Rs. 130-300. "consequent upon this order, the General Manager, Southern Railway, issued a further order stating as under:"in terms of the orders contained in Board's letter No. E (S) 53 cpc/49 dt. 130-300. "consequent upon this order, the General Manager, Southern Railway, issued a further order stating as under:"in terms of the orders contained in Board's letter No. E (S) 53 cpc/49 dt. 19-11-65 sanction is accorded for the merger of the category of asst. Ward Keepers in scale Rs. 110-200 in the Stores Department with clerks in scale of Rs. 110-180 and to the strength of clerical staft being revised in accordance with the percentage as shown in column 5 to 7 below. " ( 3 ) IT is the validity of these orders that is challenged in this writ petition on the ground that the Railway Board and the General Manager, southern Railway have no competence to pass the impugned orders under the rules governing the matter. Therefore, the sole question for consideration is whether the orders have been passed by the authorities competent to deal with the matter The submission made by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner was that the Railway Board and the general Manager are both delegated with specific power and the power to merge the cadre has not been given to them and it is beyond their powers to issue the impugned orders. It was also submitted that the authorities have no power to abolish the cadre post ( 4 ) TO appreciate this contention, it is necessary to make a brief reference to the relevant provisions contained in the Indian Railway establishment Code. Rule 2003 (3) defines cadre as follows: "2003 (3) Cadre means the strength of a service or a part of a service sanctioned as a separate unit. " rule 2003 (5) defines Competent Authority as follows: "2003 (5) Competent Authority, in relation to the exercise of any power under these rules, means the President or any authority to which such power is delegated in Appendix XXXII. " rule 2003 (5) defines Competent Authority as follows: "2003 (5) Competent Authority, in relation to the exercise of any power under these rules, means the President or any authority to which such power is delegated in Appendix XXXII. " rule 2003 (17) defines Ministerial servant as follows: "2003 (17) Ministerial servant means a railway servant of a sibordinate service whose duties are entirely clerical and any other class of servants specially defined as such by general or special order of a competent authority rule 2282 makes provisions for delegations and states that (a) Appendix xxxii schedules the delegations of powers made by the President with reference to Rule 2003 (5), (F. R 9 (g-A) (b) Appendix XXXII schedules the authorities subordinate to the Presdent which exercise the power of a competent authority under the various rules in this Chapter. The other rules which are necessary to be considered are Rules 122, 123, 156 and 157 of the Indian Railway Establishment Code Volume I (Revised Edition) and they are extracted below:"122. In the Ralway Board and attached offices -The number and character of non-gazetted posts in the office of the Railway Board and other Officers/projects/factories immediately under their control shall be such as may be determined by the Railway Board, provided that the Directors in the Research, Design and Standardization Organisation, engineer-in- Chief, working directly under the Railway board or any other authority to whom the powers may be specifically delegated by the Railway Board may create temporary posts on the condition prescribed in their respective schedules of powers. ""123. On Railways.-The number and character of non-gazetted posts on railways or other establshments etc. The Chittaranjan Locomotive works and the Integral Coach Factory, Perambur, may be determined by the General Manager or the Chief Administrative officer, as the case may be, subject to the conditions prescribed in their respective schedule of powers in Appendx VII to the Indian railway General Code, Volume II. The introduction of a new category not already obtaining on a Railway should be done with the prior sanction of the Railway Board. 156. Re-employmeent of railway servants who have completed 55 years of age including those who have proceeded on superannuation leave, may be sanctioned on the terms and conditions which may be prescribed by the Railway Board from time to time. 157. 156. Re-employmeent of railway servants who have completed 55 years of age including those who have proceeded on superannuation leave, may be sanctioned on the terms and conditions which may be prescribed by the Railway Board from time to time. 157. The Railway Board have full powers to make rules of general application to non-gazetted railway servants under their control. "the result of the analysis of these Rules is that those officials are ministerial servants who deal with clerical work and who are by special or general orders so defined as ministerial railway servants. The Railway Board has full powers to make rules of general application to non-gazetted railway servants under their control and the General Manager has full power to make rules in so far as they are not inconsistent with the rules made by the Railway Board. It is also provided that it is for the Railway Board to determine the nature and character of the non-gazetted posts including the creation of new categories of posts. It is also clear that the Railway board is the competent authority to declare a person to be a ministerial or a non-ministerial railway servant ( 5 ) IN view of the position obtaining under the rules, the contention raised by the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner that the Railway board and the General Manager were not competent to issue the impugned orders does not appear to be sound. When a power is vested to define as to who is ministerial railway servant and full powers are given to make rules of general application and also to determine the character of the post we are of the view that the abolition, creation or merger of posts is implicit in them. Even though the chances of promotions may have been affected that is of no consequence, if the authority competent to deal with the matter has dealt with the matter in accordance with the rules ( 6 ) HOW the administration is to be carried on is exclusively left to the authorities competent to deal with the matter, subject of course to the provisions of the Constitution and the law in force for the time being. When the competent authority was of the opinion that for a proper working it is necessary to reorganise them, we are of the opinion, that we arc not in slightest degree concerned with the wisdom of the order nor are we required to find out whether it is proper or effective. The only concern is to see whether the competent authority has passed the order in view of the exigency of service. ( 7 ) NO authority has been pointed out to take the view that the railway Board was not competent to merge the officials like the petitioner and reorganise the administration. ( 8 ) IT is hardly necessary to state that an authority competent take the Railway Board is, under the rules governing, competent either to create or abolish posts and it can reorganise it by merging the posts and on our view there is no error in the decision taken by the Railwav Board. By the present orders, what has been done is to redesignate the Assistant Ward Keepers as ministerial servants and when once such redesignation is made they become ministerial servants. This, as already stated, is within the competence of the Railway Board and the General Manager. In that view, there is no merit in the present writ petition. The writ petition accordingly fails and the same is dismissed. In the circumstances of the case, parties are directed to bear their own costs. --- *** --- .