(1) SPECIAL leave granted. (2) THE respondents were serving in two different private colleges which were taken over w.e.f. 1-6-1974. The memorandum in that behalf was issued on 12-4-1974. In regard to the services of the existing staff of the said two private colleges, namely, Guru Arjan Dev College, Tarn Taran (Amritsar) and Guru Nanak College, Kala Afgana (Gurdaspur), the memorandum provided as under: "(C) The Government will not accept any liability after the college is taken over by them. (d) Such members of the staff of these colleges, as fulfil necessary qualifications and are considered suitable for absorption in government service by the Punjab Public Service Commission/SSS Board shall be treated as new entrants. (e) Only government scales of pay of respective category shall be permissible to them and there shall be no personal grade for anyone. Their pay in the government scales will be fixed on the basis of length of service in equivalent/identical or higher time scales. There shall be no guarantee in regard to protecting existing salaries. The staff subject to their suitability shall be appointed on probation for a period of one year. Their absorption on regular basis shall, however, be subject to the condition laid down in sub-para (d) above. (f) The members of the staff will be treated as fresh entrants and they will be placed at the bottom of old government employees in their respective cadre." (3) IT will be seen from the above clauses of the memorandum that employees of the private colleges were to be absorbed in government service if they possessed the necessary qualifications and were found suitable for absorption by the Punjab Public Service Commission/SSS Board. They were to be treated as new entrants. But, for the purposes of fixation of pay in the time scale, their length of service in equivalent/identical position in private colleges had to be taken into consideration. However, no guarantee was given in regard to protection of existing salaries if the same happened to be in excess of the prescribed salary for government employees in corresponding positions. Accordingly, the respondents were given fitment in the regular scale, which was available in the government college to which they became entitled on the basis of equivalence of posts. There is no dispute that the respondents were given this fitment as per the clause in the memorandum. Accordingly, the respondents were given fitment in the regular scale, which was available in the government college to which they became entitled on the basis of equivalence of posts. There is no dispute that the respondents were given this fitment as per the clause in the memorandum. (4) THEN the question of placement in the selection grade came up for consideration. The relevant provision for entitlement to such placement was as under: "THE condition laid down for placement of Lecturers in the selection grade of Rs.3700-5700 are contained in para 6 of Annexure A in the said notification which are reproduced below: (a) Completed 8 years in the senior scale provided that the requirement of 8 years will be relaxed if the total service of the Lecturer is not less than 16 years." (5) THE respondents admittedly had not completed 8 years of service in the senior scale after the Government took over the private colleges and absorbed them in government service, but they contend that since they had completed more than 16 years of service inclusive of their service in private colleges, they were entitled to relaxation and placement in the selection grade. Since this was denied to them, they filed a writ petition in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana which came to be heard by a learned Single Judge of that Court, who answered the short question arising for consideration in their favour. Aggrieved by that decision, the Department went in appeal to the Division Bench of the High Court, but that appeal came to be dismissed and hence this appeal by special leave. (6) THE short question which the learned Judge was required to consider was whether the service in private college before the taking over of the institution can be added to the service in the government college for the purpose of taking benefit of relaxation under the aforementioned provision. The learned Single Judge of the High Court relied on an earlier decision of the same Court in Second Appeal No. 1516 of 1986 and held that the claim put forward by the respondents was sustainable in view of the earlier decision in the said appeal dated 7-8-1987. The Division Bench of the High Court in appeal affirmed the same. The learned Single Judge of the High Court relied on an earlier decision of the same Court in Second Appeal No. 1516 of 1986 and held that the claim put forward by the respondents was sustainable in view of the earlier decision in the said appeal dated 7-8-1987. The Division Bench of the High Court in appeal affirmed the same. (7) THE short question, therefore, is whether the respondents herein can legitimately contend that in view of the taking-over scheme under the memorandum, the respondents are entitled to have their past services in private colleges counted for the purpose of calculating their total service of 16 years for placement in the selection grade. We have reproduced the relevant provision which clearly states that if the incumbent has not completed 8 years of service in senior scale since his absorption in government service, he shall not be entitled to be placed in selection grade unless the total service is of 16 years. Therefore, a minimum of 8 years of service had to be completed in the government institution in senior scale, and if the total period put in is found to be less than 8 years, it was permissible for the Government to relax the same if the total service was of not less than 16 years. Now, as stated earlier, under the terms of the memorandum of takeover, the staff of the private college absorbed in government service were to be treated as "new entrants" and except for the purposes of fixation of pay in the time scale of pay, the past service had not to be considered for any other purpose. The minimum service required for the purposes of placement in selection grade was 8 years, but if the service fell short of 8 years in the senior scale to which the selection grade belonged, that could be relaxed if the incumbent had a total service of not less than 16 years. The question is whether for determination of the length of total service, past service in private college could be taken into consideration or the length of 16 years service after absorption in government service must be reckoned with. The question is whether for determination of the length of total service, past service in private college could be taken into consideration or the length of 16 years service after absorption in government service must be reckoned with. If the memorandum merely granted the benefit of past service for fixation of salary in the corresponding scale in government service, it is difficult to comprehend how it can be urged that, for the purpose of placement in selection grade, the past service ought to be considered. Mr Munjral, the learned counsel for the appellant, drew our attention to a decision of this Court in State of Punjab v. Dev Dutt Kaushal where while considering the question regarding entry into government service of employees of private colleges in the context of the provisions in the gift deed, this Court had declined to consider the past service in private colleges as relevant for the purposes of working out the full length of service. It is unnecessary to consider in detail the said decision because, unaided by that decision, on the language of the relevant provision, we are inclined to think that the past service in private college has to be ignored. (8) FOR the above reasons, we allow this appeal, set aside the order of the High Court and hold that the writ petition was liable to be dismissed. It shall stand so dismissed with no order as to costs throughout.