ORDER : Sujata V. Manohar, J. 1. The dispute relates to Agriculture Teachers appointed prior to coming into force of the Rules of 1975, in the Government Basic Schools of the State of Bihar. 2. The State Government in the year 1972-73 had created 471 posts of Agriculture Teachers under the new National Educational Policy on the basis of the recommendations of the Central Education Council. The requisite educational qualifications of these teachers were matriculation with a diploma in agriculture. Out of these posts, 71 posts were in the scale of Rs 240-396 and the remaining 400 posts were created with the pay of Rs 150 per month. Later on, all the 471 posts were made permanent in the scale of Rs 240-396 in respect of matriculate teachers who had training or diploma in agriculture. We are informed that the appointments of these teachers were regularised in the year 1975. 3. The present dispute is raised by Assistant Teachers in Basic Schools who are non-agriculture teachers. They have objected to Agriculture Teachers being merged in the cadre of Assistant Teachers in each of the divisions of the State of Bihar. The High Court in the impugned judgment has held that Assistant Teachers in agriculture cannot be excluded from the gradation list of Assistant Teachers as they belong to the cadre of Assistant Teachers in the Bihar Lower Subordinate Education Service. The present special leave petitions are filed by the non-agriculture teachers from the decision of the High Court. 4. During the pendency of these special leave petitions before us, the State Government had filed a counter-affidavit saying that they could not take any decision on the question of merger because of the pending litigation. This Court had directed, by its order of 1-11-1996, that the State Government should take a decision on this question notwithstanding the impugned decision of the High Court and should communicate the same to this Court within the time which was then fixed. Thereafter, a further affidavit has been filed before us dated 21-3-1997 by Deepak Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Education, Government of Bihar in which it is stated that the Government has taken a decision as per Annexure R-1. Thereafter, a further affidavit has been filed before us dated 21-3-1997 by Deepak Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Education, Government of Bihar in which it is stated that the Government has taken a decision as per Annexure R-1. Under Annexure R-1, the State Government has taken a decision that (a) Agriculture Teachers working in Government Basic Schools should be merged in the Lower Subordinate Service (Primary); (b) the seniority of these Agriculture Teachers will be determined in the pay scale of matric-trained from the date of appointment; and (c) these Agriculture Teachers will be given all the facilities like general teachers of Government Basic Schools. 5. This decision is objected to by the petitioners on the ground that the Agriculture Teachers cannot be given seniority from the date of their appointment because their appointments were irregular. This issue has nowhere been referred to as raised by the petitioners; nor is it dealt with by the High Court in the impugned judgment. The appointments were made as far back as 1972-73 and were regularised around 1975. Such appointments cannot now be made the subject-matter of challenge after a lapse of over 20 years. 6. The second objection relates to the qualifications possessed by Agriculture Teachers. It is contended that many of them do not have the qualification of one year's training which is required of Assistant Teachers. Right from inception, however, Agriculture Teachers were required to possess a diploma in agriculture which involved training for a period of nine months. This, therefore, is not a ground on which any distinction can be made between Assistant Teachers in other subjects and Agriculture Teachers. 7. Therefore, we do not see any reason to entertain these special leave petitions. We would, however, like to make it clear (i) that only those teachers who have been regularised and who possess diploma in agriculture or training qualification will get the benefit of the Government resolution merging Agriculture Teachers in the cadre of Lower Subordinate Service (Primary); (ii) their seniority will be determined from the date of their regular appointment; and (iii) in the case of those teachers who have obtained a diploma or training qualification subsequent to their regular appointment, the seniority will be determined from the date of the acquisition of such qualification. 8. With these modifications, the special leave petitions are disposed of.