GODA RAGHURAM, J. ( 1 ) THE present writ petition is filed seeking invalidation of G. O. Rt. No. 972 Higher education (CE. III) Department dated 13-12-2000 as illegal, arbitrary and in violation of rules and for a consequential direction to the respondents 1 to 4 to consider the case of the petitioner for promotion to the aided post of Junior lecturer in Mathematics in the 3rd respondent-College in terms of proceedings rc. No. G-3/103/2000 dated 18-11-2000 of the second respondent. ( 2 ) BY the order impugned in the writ petition, the 5th respondent was appointed as Junior Lecturer in Mathematics in the vacant aided post in the 3rd respondent- college. The 5th respondent had initially been appointed as a temporary Junior lecturer in 1993 consequent on the permanent incumbent absenting himself unauthorisedly. The services of the said permanent incumbent were terminated by the Management in the year 1997 subject to approval of the competent authority. In the ensuing vacancy, the 5th respondent was appointed as Junior Lecturer in mathematics but as an unaided incumbent. Such appointment of the 5th respondent was ratified by the proceedings dated 9-10-2000 on account of the fact that his initial appointment was by a Selection committee in which the authorised representative of the Board of Intermediate education was not present. This order of ratification appointing the 5th respondent to the unaided post contained a condition that the approval of the appointment would not entitle the 5th respondent to any right for absorption in an aided post in future. ( 3 ) THE writ petitioner was appointed as school Assistant in Mathematics in the school run by the same Management, as is the 3rd respondent. In G. O. Ms. No. 12 dated 10-1-1992, the State Government prescribed the administrative rules for selection of lecturers in private degree and Junior colleges. By yet another order in g. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999, the State government provided an avenue of promotion to the post of Junior Lecturer in private colleges from the categories of school Assistants, S. G. B. T. Assistants and non-teaching staff working under educational institutions under the same management. Paragraph 5 of G. O. Ms. By yet another order in g. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999, the State government provided an avenue of promotion to the post of Junior Lecturer in private colleges from the categories of school Assistants, S. G. B. T. Assistants and non-teaching staff working under educational institutions under the same management. Paragraph 5 of G. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999 reads as under:"the Government after detailed examination and careful consideration of the matter hereby direct that the school Assistants/sgbt Assistants and non-teaching staff working under the private Schools/junior Colleges under the private management be considered for promotion as Junior lecturers in the Junior Colleges of the same private management, if they are fully qualified and possess 50% marks in Post Graduate in the relevant subject, in the following order of priority, i. e. , to consider first school assistants for promotion as Junior lecturer and if no qualified and suitable candidate is there in the school Assistant category then to consider the SGBT Assistant and if no such persons are available then promote Non-teaching staff in ministerial service. If no qualified person is available in any of the categories viz. , school Assistant/sgbt assistant/non-teaching staff in ministerial service, the Management is permitted to go for direct recruitment for filling the vacancies of Junior lecturers in the College. The Selection committee constituted in G. O. Ms. No. 1119 dated 22-3-1991 can be the selection Committee for considering promotions of the categories of persons mentioned above for a Private junior College. A minimum service of two years is prescribed in the feeder category for becoming eligible for promotion as Junior Lecturer. " (Emphasis added ). ( 4 ) IN September 1999, the 3rd respondent management submitted proposals to the second respondent for considering the promotion of the petitioner as Junior lecturer in the 3rd respondent institution in terms of G. O. Ms. No. 203 above. These proposals were also followed up by representations made by the petitioner to the first respondent in this regard. On 10-1-2000, the first respondent issued a memo directing the second respondent to consider the request of the petitioner in terms of G. O. Ms. No. 203. No. 203 above. These proposals were also followed up by representations made by the petitioner to the first respondent in this regard. On 10-1-2000, the first respondent issued a memo directing the second respondent to consider the request of the petitioner in terms of G. O. Ms. No. 203. On 27-1-2000, the 3rd respondent-Management requested the second respondent to accord permission to nominate its representative to the Selection committee for consideration of the case of the petitioner for appointment as Junior lecturer in Mathematics in terms of g. O. Ms. No. 203. ( 5 ) BY the proceedings dated 18-11-2000, the second respondent accorded permission to the 3rd respondent to fill up the aided post of Junior Lecturer by promoting School assistant as per the procedure set out in g. O. Ms. No. 119, dated 22-3-1991, g. O. Ms. No. 12 dated 10-1-1992 and g. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999. The selection Committee was scheduled to meet on 16-12-2000 but could not so meet and the meeting was adjourned to a subsequent unspecified date. ( 6 ) WHILE the consideration of the case of the petitioner for appointment as Junior lecturer in Mathematics in terms of g. O. Ms. No. 203 was in active process, the impugned G. O. Rtno. 972 dated 13-12-2000 has been issued whereby the 5th respondent has been appointed by transfer from the unaided post to the existing vacant aided post of Junior Lecturer in the 3rd respondent-College and the Director of intermediate Education has been requested to take necessary action on the decision contained in the impugned Government order and report back to the Government. ( 7 ) THE petitioner assails the order of the state Government dated 13-12-2000 appointing the 5th respondent to the aided post on the ground that this appointment is illegal and without jurisdiction in view of the priorities for recruitment fixed in paragraph 5 of G. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999 whereby the School Assistants, sgbt Assistants and Non-teaching staff working in private schools, Junior Colleges under the private management are entitled to be considered for promotion as Junior lecturer in the Junior Colleges of the same management if they are fully qualified. G. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999 whereby the School Assistants, sgbt Assistants and Non-teaching staff working in private schools, Junior Colleges under the private management are entitled to be considered for promotion as Junior lecturer in the Junior Colleges of the same management if they are fully qualified. G. O. Ms. No. 203 ordains the priorities in which such consideration should be accorded namely first the School Assistants would be considered for promotion; if no qualified and suitable candidates amongst the School Assistants are available then the sgbt Assistants would be considered and in the absence of the second category also, the non-teaching ministerial staff would be considered. Paragraph 5 of G. O. Ms. No. 203 further specifies that if no qualified person is available in any of the above three categories namely School Assistants, SGBT assistants and non-teaching staff in the ministerial service, the Management is permitted to go for direct recruitment for filling the vacancies of Junior Lecturers in the college. It is also ordained that the selection Committee constituted in g. O. MS. NO. 1119 dated 22-3-1991 shall be the Selection Committee for considering the promotions of the categories of the persons set out in G. O. Ms. No. 203 for promotion as junior Lecturers under the same management. A minimum service of two years is also prescribed in the feeder category for eligibility for promotion as junior Lecturer. Paragraph 6 of G. O. Ms. No. 203 specifically clarifies that the initial recruitment procedure specified in g. O. Ms. No. 12 dated 10-1-1992 is deemed to have been amended in terms of the provisions of G. O. Ms. No. 203. ( 8 ) IN the above legal regime, the official respondents do not appear entitled to make direct recruitment of a Junior Lecturer in the 3rd respondent-College overlooking persons entitled for prioritized consideration in terms of paragraph 5 of g. O. Ms. No. 203. It is the case of the petitioner that he does not suffer any disqualification for consideration in terms of G. O. Ms. No. 203 and it is amply clear from his service antecedents that he belongs to first category among the categories set out in G. O. Ms. No. 203, he belongs to the category of School Assistants working in the institution under the same management, as is the 3rd respondent junior College. No. 203 and it is amply clear from his service antecedents that he belongs to first category among the categories set out in G. O. Ms. No. 203, he belongs to the category of School Assistants working in the institution under the same management, as is the 3rd respondent junior College. ( 9 ) THE 5th respondent after a tenure of ad hoc and temporary service under a private arrangement with the 3rd respondent management, was appointed after a process of selection as Junior Lecturer in mathematics in an unaided post in the 3rd respondent by the orders dated 19-2-1998. On the ground that the composition of the selection Committee that considered his selection was irregular, his case came to be sponsored for ratification and by the orders dated 19-10-2000 his appointment was ratified to the unaided post with a specific rider that such appointment would not entitle him for absorption in any aided post in future. ( 10 ) FROM the aforesaid chronology of events, it is apparent that as on the date of issue of G. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999, the 5th respondent occupies the post of junior Lecturer in Mathematics in an unaided post with no legal entitlement for absorption in an aided post. By and on 18-6-1999, the priority recruitment procedure ordained in G. O. Ms. No. 203 became operational and the School assistants, SGBT Assistants and Non- teaching staff working in the schools under the same private management became entitled for prioritized consideration for appointment as Junior Lecturer by promotion in terms of the priority set out in paragraph 5 of G. O. Ms. No. 203. ( 11 ) WITH the opera tionalization of g. O. Ms. No. 203 with effect from 18-6-1999, the category of School Assistants to which the petitioner belongs, acquired a substantive legitimate expectation to prioritized consideration as against direct recruitment for the post of Junior Lecturer in the 3rd respondent-College if qualified within the meaning of paragraph 5 of g. O. Ms. No. 203. No. 203 with effect from 18-6-1999, the category of School Assistants to which the petitioner belongs, acquired a substantive legitimate expectation to prioritized consideration as against direct recruitment for the post of Junior Lecturer in the 3rd respondent-College if qualified within the meaning of paragraph 5 of g. O. Ms. No. 203. ( 12 ) IT is only after the petitioner is considered and found ineligible and all others in the remaining order of priority namely SGBT Assistants and non-teaching staff working under the same management school are also considered and found ineligible, that the question of resorting to direct recruitment for filling up the vacant junior Lecturer in Mathematics would arise and any competence would inhere in the official respondents to resort to such direct recruitment. In this legal environment, the action of the first respondent in appointing the 5th respondent to an aided post of junior Lecturer in Mathematics by what it chooses to1 term as transfer from unaided post to aided post appears to be a clear colorable exercise of power qua G. O. Ms. No. 203 dated 18-6-1999. It is well settled in law that regularisation cannot be a mode of recruitment, nor can regularisation of services be resorted to in the teeth of a legal regime that ordains inter se priority in the matter of consideration from a plurality of sources and contrary to such prescribed priority. The power of regularisation is not immunised from the legal reach of the ultra vires principle, (1) Nanjundappa R. N. vs. T. Thimmaiah1, (2) B. N. Nagarajan vs. State of karnataka2, (3) V. Srinivasa Reddy vs. Government of Andhra Pradesh3, (4) e. Ramakrishnan and others vs. State of Kerala*, (5) Director of Public Instruction of West bengal vs. A. Pap. ( 13 ) IN the analysis above, this Court is unable to sustain the orders of the first respondent in G. O. Rt. No. 972 dated 13-12-2000. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed setting aside the impugned order referred to above. The respondents shall now proceed to hold a selection in terms of g. O. Ms. No. 203, Dated 10-6-1999. No order as to costs.