Judgment ( 1. ) THE writ petition has been preferred by the Union of India and others assailing the order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, jabalpur on 6. 5. 05 in O. A. No. 301/04. ( 2. ) THE facts lie in a narrow compass. On 5. 3. 02, an advertisement for filling up the post of Gramin Dak Sewak Branch Post Master (hereinafter to be referred as GDSBPM in short), Jaypee Puram, ED Branch was published. Siddh Prakash Singh/respondent submitted an application. He belonged to OBC category, though the post was meant for Scheduled Tribe category. He was selected and appointed in terms of the conditions mentioned in the advertisement providing that if no scheduled Tribe category candidate is available, appointment shall be made from scheduled Caste category candidates or OBC category candidates. He joined the post on 1. 6. 02. He worked satisfactorily. The Chief Post Master General in exercise of the powers conferred on him w. e. f. 9. 5. 03, under Rule 4 (3) of Gramin Dak Sewak (Conduct and Employment) Rules, 2001 issued a show cause notice dated 16. 2. 04 as to why the service be not terminated. The said show cause notice was assailed. ( 3. ) THE stand of the Union of India, Chief Post Master General in the reply was that approval of higher authority was to be obtained for appointment of obc category candidates in place of Scheduled Tribe category candidates, it was necessary to obtain the approval vide instructions contained in letter dated 27. 11. 97 (P-1 ). In para 8 of the letter (P-1), it has been mentioned that names of eligible candidates should be called from Employment Exchange and the Employment exchange fails to sponsor the minimum number of three eligible candidates, an open advertisement should be issued calling for nomination. Even if the minimum number of 3 eligible candidates do not offer their candidatures approval of the next higher authority to the proposed appointment should be obtained before selection is made from amongst such candidates. In case the Employment exchange nominates lesser number of eligible candidates than 3 and it becomes necessary to call for application from the open market also the candidatures of the nominees of the employment Exchange should also be considered alongwith those offering their candidatures in response to the open advertisement. In case the Employment exchange nominates lesser number of eligible candidates than 3 and it becomes necessary to call for application from the open market also the candidatures of the nominees of the employment Exchange should also be considered alongwith those offering their candidatures in response to the open advertisement. Reliance has been placed on the aforesaid instructions contained in para 8 of the letter. ( 4. ) THE Tribunal has quashed the notice. Aggrieved thereby the Union of India and others have come up in the writ petition. ( 5. ) SHRI O. P. Namdeo, learned, counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has submitted that vide para 8 of the instructions contained in letter dated 28. 11. 97, it was incumbent upon the appointing authority to take sanction of the next higher officer, which was not obtained The show cause notice was rightly issued, it should not have been quashed by the Tribunal. ( 6. ) SHRI Akash Choudhary, learned counsel appearing for respondent/employee has submitted that vide above letter, power of review was conferred on Post Master General with effect from, 9,5. 03, appointment has been made in the year 2002, power to review could not have been exercised. ( 7. ) MAIN question is whether as per instructions contained in para 8 of letter (P-1) dated 27. 11. 97, it was necessary to get the approval of the higher authority. Para 8 quoted below :-- "in case the Employment Exchange fails to sponsor the minimum number of eligible candidates,an open advertisement should be issued calling for nominations. Even here if the minimum number of 3 eligible candidates do not offer their candidatures approval of the next higher authority to be proposed appointment should be obtained before selection is made from amongst such candidates. In case the Employment Exchange nominates lesser number of eligible candidates than 3 and it becomes necessary to call for applications from the open market also, the candidatures of the nominees of the Employment Exchange should also be considered alongwith those offering their candidatures in response to the open advertisement. " A reading of para 8 makes it clear that in case the number of candidates is less than three and appointment is to made out of them, in that case, approval of higher authority is required to be taken. " A reading of para 8 makes it clear that in case the number of candidates is less than three and appointment is to made out of them, in that case, approval of higher authority is required to be taken. In the instant case, it is not in dispute that number of candidates sponsored by the Employment Exchange was less than three and method of selection from the open market was resorted to by issuance of advertisement (A-2) dated 5. 3. 02, filed in the original application (P-5), which has been placed on record. Condition No. 1 of the advertisement clearly prescribes that the post was reserved for Scheduled Tribe category. In case requisite number of Scheduled Tribe category candidate do not apply, the post shall be filled up from Scheduled Caste, OBC or other category, priority shall be given in the aforesaid order. Meaning thereby initially Scheduled Tribe candidates has to be appointed, in case of non-availability of Scheduled Tribe candidates, Scheduled Caste candidate could be appointed, otherwise from OBC and lastly from other category i. e. , general. In circumstances, admittedly as Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled caste candidates were not available, appointment of OBC candidates could not be said to be illegal in any manner. There was no necessity of obtaining the approval of higher authority in the aforesaid circumstances. ( 8. ) THUS we find no merit in the submission raised by learned counsel for the petitioners that it was necessary to obtain approval of next higher authority, on the basis of which show cause notice was issued to the respondent/employee. The show cause notice issued was without any basis and has been rightly set aside by the Tribunal. We do not find any reason to make interference in the impugned order. ( 9. ) RESULTANTLY, writ petition being devoid of merits is hereby dismissed. No costs. Petition dismissed.