JUDGMENT V. Balakrishna Eradi, J. 1. In the St. Thomas High School managed by the 3rd respondent a short term leave vacancy of High School Assistant (Hindi) arose during the year 1970-71 and the petitioner who was a qualified teacher unemployed at that time, was appointed by the manager to act in that vacancy. Pursuant to the said appointment she worked in the school during the period beginning from 3rd August 1970 and ending with 21st September 1970 on which date she was relieved from service. The permanent incumbent of the post of High School Assistant (Hindi) in the said school was one P. M. Sankaran Nair and he retired from the service with the close of the academic year 1970-71. The vacancy was filled up by the manager by appointing the petitioner in that post with effect from 1st June 1971. The District Educational Officer, Chavakkad, approved the said appoint­ment as per an order passed by him on 17th June 1971, overruling certain objections raised by the 4th respondent herein who had been working as Lower Grade Hindi Teacher the institution for a period of about eight years and was qualified for promotion to the higher grade. The 4th respondent carried the matter in appeal before the Regional Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Ernakulam (1st res­pondent) the main contention put forward in the appeal petition being that the vacancy in question ought to have been filled up by the manager only by promoting the quali­fied hand working in the school in the lower grade, namely, the 4th respondent, as per the provision laid down in rule 43 of Chapter XIV (A) of the Kerala Education Rules. The Regional Deputy Director issued notice of the appeal petition to the writ petitioner and also to the manager of the school and all the parties were also afforded an oral hearing. The writ petitioner urged before the 1st respon­dent that by virtue of the previous approved service put in by her in the institution during the period from 3rd August 1970 to 21st September 1970 she had acquired a preferential right to be re appointed in the school as High School Assistant (Hindi) by virtue of the provision contained in rule 51A Chapter XIV (A) of the Kerala Education Rules. The Regional Deputy Director rejected this plea and upheld the contention of the 4th respondent that the vacancy in question had to be filled up under rule 43 of Chapter XIV (A) by promoting the qualified hand working in the lower grade. The 1st respondent therefore set aside the order of the District Educational Officer granting approval to the petitioner’s appointment and held that the action of the manager in having appointed the writ petitioner as High School Assistant (Hindi) with effect from 1st June 1971 was not in order. The petitioner has produced a copy of the said proceedings of the Regional Deputy Director of Public Instruction, dated 29th February 1972 and it is marked as Ext. P-3. The prayer in this writ petition is that Ext. P-3 should be quashed on the ground that it is vitiated by an error of law apparent on the face of the record. 2. There is no dispute between the parties regarding the particulars of the service put in by the petitioner and the 4th respondent in the 3rd respondent’s school. The 4th respondent has been working there as a Lower Grade Hindi Teacher for the past about eight years on a regular basis. On 1st June 1971 when the retirement vacancy arose the 4th respondent was fully qualified for appointment to the post. She had not however acquired the requisite qualifi­cations at the time when a leave vacancy had arisen in the school in the post of High School Assistant (Hindi) in August 1970 into which vacancy the petitioner was then appointed as a fresh temporary recruit and pursuant to which she worked in the school from 3rd August 1970 to 21st September 1970. While the petitioner claims by virtue of the said temporary service put in by her that she has acquired a preferential right for re-appointment into the next vacancy of High School Assistant (Hindi) arising in the school by relying on rule 51A of Chapter XIV (A) of the Kerala Education Rules, the 4th respondent relies equally strongly on rule 43 of the same chapter for contend­ing that when a qualified hand working in a lower grade in the institution is available for promotion on the date of occurrence of the vacancy, the vacancy can be filled up only by promoting such qualified hand. 3. 3. Rules 43 and 51A occurring in the same chapter of the Kerala Education Rules both deal with the question of conferment of rights of preference on certain types of personnel in the matter of filling up of vacancies arising in the schools and there is a certain amount of overlapping of the provisions of the two rules. While rule 43 found a place in the rules as originally promulgated with effect from 1st June 1959, rule 51A has been introduced into the chapter by a subsequent amendment with effect from 12th July 1966. It is now necessary at this juncture to extract the provisions of the two rules. Rule 43 reads: “43. Subject to rules 44 and 45 and considerations of efficiency and any general order that may be issued by the Government, vacancies in any higher grade of pay shall be filled up by promotion of qualified hands in the lower grade according to seniority, if such hands are available. Note— A teacher in a lower grade of pay in one category of post is eligible for promotion to a higher grade of pay in another category of post provided: (i) he has the prescribed qualifications; and (ii) there is no teacher with the prescribed qualifications in the lower grade of pay of the category of post to which promotions are to be made�. Rule 51A is in the following terms: “51 A. Qualified teachers who are relieved as per rule 49 or 52 or on account of termination of vacancies shall have preference for appointment to future vacancies in schools under the same Educational Agency provided they have not been appointed in permanent vacancies in schools under any other Educational Agency�. It is a fundamental principle of interpretation of statutes inclusive of subordinate legislation that the attempt of the court should be, as far as possible, to harmonise the different provisions contained in the statute or in the rule so long as it is possible to achieve the same without doing violence to the language used by the Legislature or by the rule-making authority. A construction which leads to a direct conflict between different provisions should, as far as possible, be avoided. A construction which leads to a direct conflict between different provisions should, as far as possible, be avoided. If the said principle is kept in mind I think the correct way of interpreting and reconciling rules 43 and 51A is to limit the applicability of rule 51A to cases where vacancies arising in the school are to be filled up otherwise than by promotion of personnel already in the service of the school, i.e., by recruiting persons from out­side. Thus, on this interpretation, rule 51A will come into operation in the matter of filling up vacancies of posts in a higher grade only when no qualified hands are available in the lower grade in the institution and where consequently the vacancies have to be filled up by recruitment of persons from outside. In such a case a person who has put in a previous temporary service in the school will be preferred over everyone else in the matter of filling up a vacancy by direct recruitment. If rule 51A is to be understood as conferring a right on an outsider to be appointed to a vacancy in a higher grade merely on the ground of his having acted in the school on a previous occasion when there was no qualified hand in the lower grade, the provisions of rule 43 will be rendered entirely nugatory. Such an interpretation will also leave the door open for misuse of the provisions of rule 51A by the manager since it will be possible for him to circumvent the mandatory terms of rule 43 by merely appointing an outsider in a short term vacancy which may even be deliberately created by indu­cing a higher grade teacher to take leave at a time when the person working in a lower grade is not yet fully qualified. By the said device the teacher in the lower grade can be effectively deprived of the benefit conferred by rule 43 and divested of all prospects of promotion, even though such person may have acquired the requisite qualifi­cations by the time a permanent vacancy arises in the school. I do not think that this was the intention of the rule-making authority when it framed rule 51 A. 4. I do not think that this was the intention of the rule-making authority when it framed rule 51 A. 4. I therefore hold that the view taken by the Regional Deputy Director of Public Instruction that the 4th respondent is a rightful claimant for the higher grade post of High School Assistant (Hindi) is perfectly correct and that it does not call for interference. The petitioner will be entitled to rely on her previous service in the school for founding a claim for preferential appointment to the post of Lower Grade Hindi Teacher that will fall vacant in the school consequent on the promotion of the 4th respon­dent and in regard to the said matter rule 51A will fully apply in her favour. She may make representations to respondents Nos. 1 and 2 for her being continued in the service of the school in the said vacancy and also for passing orders regarding disbursement of salary treating her as a lower grade teacher for the period during which she was entitled to appointment in that capacity. Subject to the above observations the original petition is dismissed. There will be no direction regarding disburse­ment of salary treating her as a lower grade teacher for the period during which she was entitled to appointment in that capacity. Subject to the above observations the original petition is dismissed. There will be no direction regarding costs.