JUDGMENT & ORDER (ORAL) : Heard Mr. T. N. Srinivasan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.M. R Adhikary, learned Additional Senior Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the State respondent Nos. 1 and 2. 2. The petitioner is an association of the personnel under the Geological Wing of the Directorate of Geology and Mining, Government of Assam and it had been formed and recognized under Rule-23 of the Assam Services (Conduct) Rules, 1965. 3. It is stated that the organizational structure of the Directorate of Geology and Mining consists of four different wings (1) Geology, (2) Chemistry (3) Drilling and (4) Mining and each of the wing have different qualifications and experience for their respective disciplines. The minimum required qualification at the entry point of the four wings are as follows:- Wing Entry Pointy Minimum Qualification Geology Assistant Geologist M.Sc/M.Tech Chemistry Assistant Chemist/Chemist B.Sc/M.Sc Drilling Drilling Engineer B.E/B.Sc Mining Assistant Mining Engineer Degree/Diploma 4. According to the petitioner, it is noticeable that for the Geology wing, the minimum entry qualification is a master degree in the relevant subject or a master degree in technology, whereas in case of the other wings, the minimum required qualification is a bachelor degree. It is also the case of the petitioner association that the Geology wing is the primary wing in the Directorate, whereas the other wings are supportive wings to work along with the Geology wing. 5. The issue involved in this writ petition flows from certain preliminary facts and it is stated that as per the recommendation of the Assam Pay Commission, 1973, the prescribed scale of pay was higher in respect of the Geologists, whereas it was comparatively lower for the Senior Chemist of the Chemistry Wing. But the Assam Pay Commission of 1979 while revisiting the pay structure had brought the pay scale of Geologist and Senior Chemist at per even though the minimum entry qualification were different for both the wings. Subsequently, the Assam Pay Commission of 1988, in its report, which was published in the year 1990, had recommended a higher scale to the Senior Chemist and correspondingly lower scale of pay was recommended for the Geologist. Subsequent thereto the Assam Pay Commission of 1994 had recommended a pay structure whereby the maximum pay prescribed, were at disparity with each other. Subsequent thereto the Assam Pay Commission of 1994 had recommended a pay structure whereby the maximum pay prescribed, were at disparity with each other. Consequently, the Officers in the Geology Wing had preferred a writ petition before this Court, which was numbered as CR No.4494/1994 and disposed of by the order dated 16.11.1994 by providing that the Assam Pay Commission, 1994 would go into the grievances raised on behalf of the Geology Wing. Subsequently, the present petitioner had preferred another writ petition being WP(C) No.4816/2000, inter-alia seeking for a direction from the Court for a parity of pay with that of Senior Chemist. During the pendency of the said writ petition, an Expert Committee was constituted by the Government of Assam by notification dated 27.03.2006 to decide upon the issue of pay parity between the personal in the Geology Wing and that of the Chemistry wing in the Directorate of Geology and Mining. Accordingly, this Court by its order dated 15.06.2006 in WP(C) No.4816/2000 had provided that the writ petition stood closed with a direction that the Committee constituted by the Notification dated 27.03.2006 shall submit its report to the said Government within the prescribed period and thereafter the State Government shall take a final decision in the matter within the next two weeks. 6. In the aforesaid facts and circumstances, the Expert Committee constituted by the Notification dated 27.03.2006 had submitted its report, which is available as Annexure-9, page-47 to the writ petition. The Expert Committee in its report dated 17.05.2006 had made certain observation after examining the entire matter regarding the parity of pay in respect of the Geologist and others. Clause-3 and 4 of the observations are as follows:- “3. The post of “Sr Chemist is also a promotion post of Chemist on completion of 10 years of service like Sr Drilling Engineer/Mining Engineer as recommended by the Assam Pay Commission, 1994. So, same pay scale of Rs.8100/--13,025/- have been allowed to the post of Sr Chemist at par with the Sr Drilling Engineer/Mining Engineer. 4. It is found that the post of Geologist (Rs.6600-12,625/-) is the intermediate post between Assistant Geologist (Rs.4390-11,425/-) and the Sr Geologist (Rs.8100-13,025/-). The Committee found that there are not such intermediate post in other wings of the Directorate. “7. 4. It is found that the post of Geologist (Rs.6600-12,625/-) is the intermediate post between Assistant Geologist (Rs.4390-11,425/-) and the Sr Geologist (Rs.8100-13,025/-). The Committee found that there are not such intermediate post in other wings of the Directorate. “7. Consequent upon the aforesaid observations, the Expert Committee had made the following recommendation:- “To solve the above problem the cadre of Geologist and the Senior Geologist may be amalgamated into a single cadre of Senior Geologist in the pay scale of Rs.8100-13,025/-. As a result of the amalgamation the Assistant Geologist shall be eligible for getting the next promotion as Senior Geologist on completion 10 years of service in the line of service condition of posts of other wings of the Directorate.” 8. From a perusal of the observations of the Expert Committee, it can be seen that the Committee was of the view that the post of Geologist in the pay scale of Rs.6600-12,625/- is an intermediate post between that of Assistant Geologist in the pay scale of Rs.4390-11,425/- and that of Senior Geologist in the pay scale of Rs.8100-13,025/-. The Committee was also of the view that there are no such intermediate posts in the other wings of the Directorate like that of the Geologist wing. On the basis of the aforesaid observation, it is noticed that the Expert Committee had given a recommendation that in order to solve the problem of the intermediate cadre of Geologist between the cadre of Senior Geologist and Assistant Geologist, there may be a amalgamation of the cadre of Geologist and Senior Geologist into a single cadre in the pay scale of Rs.8100-13,025/-. It was further recommended that as a result of the amalgamation, the incumbents would be eligible for being promoted from the cadre of Assistant Geologist to that of Senior Geologist on completion of 10 years of service in the line of service condition of post of other wings of the Directorate. 9. In a common parlance, the expression amalgamation indicates that one of the entity is totally merges with the other entity and acquires the other identity to which it is merged, meaning thereby, that the earlier preexisting entity loses its earlier identity and acquires entity to which it is stands merged. 10. 9. In a common parlance, the expression amalgamation indicates that one of the entity is totally merges with the other entity and acquires the other identity to which it is merged, meaning thereby, that the earlier preexisting entity loses its earlier identity and acquires entity to which it is stands merged. 10. It is noticed that perhaps there may be one difficulty in construing of the Geologist to be a Senior Geologist in view of the fact that as per the service order, the qualifying period for being promoted as Geologist from Assistant Geologist is five years and that from Geologist to Senior Geologist is another five years. Whereas, as per the recommendation, the minimum qualifying period for an Assistant Geologist to be promoted to Senior Geologist would be now ten years. Therefore, it is factually possible that there may be certain persons in the cadre of Geologist, who had been promoted as Geologist after completing five years of qualifying service, but have not completed the required total period of ten years for being qualified as a Senior Geologist. The question for determination of the status of such class of Geologist, who had completed five years of service as Assistant Geologist, but have not completed five years of service as Geologist meaning thereby that they have not completed a total of ten years as Assistant Geologist and Geologist taken together would be left open for the respondent authorities to decide upon. 11. But in any view of the matter, the recommendation of the Expert Committee is that upon the recommendation being given its effect, there would remain no further person in the cadre of Geologist and all such persons in the Geologist Wing would either in the cadre of Assistant Geologist or they would be in the cadre of Senior Geologist. 12. In the aforesaid background, the Assam Geologist and Mining (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Order, 1988 (in short Service Order of 1988) was amended by the present impugned notification, which notifies the Assam Geologist and Mining (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) (Amendment Order, 2007), which in fact brought an amendment to the earlier Service Order of 1998. 12. In the aforesaid background, the Assam Geologist and Mining (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Order, 1988 (in short Service Order of 1988) was amended by the present impugned notification, which notifies the Assam Geologist and Mining (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) (Amendment Order, 2007), which in fact brought an amendment to the earlier Service Order of 1998. Clause -5 of the Service Order of 1988 provides for the mode of recruitment to the Services, where sub clause 8 of clause-5 provides for the mode of recruitment to the cadre of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist, whereas Sub clause-5 of clause-5 provides for the method of recruitment to the cadre of Geologist and Petrologist. Clasue-5(3) and 5(5) of the Service Order of 1988 is as follows:- “5(3). Deputy Director/Sr Geologist:- The post of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist shall be filled up by promotion from the cadre of Geologist, Petrologist or Geophysicist. To be eligible for promotion to the post of Deputy Director/Sr Geologist the incumbent must have atleast 10 years service experience including atleast 3 years as Geologist, Petrologist or Geophysicist. 5(5). Geolotist and Petrologist:- The post of Geologist or Petrologist shall be filled up by promotion from the cadre of Assistant Geologist. In order to become eligible for promotion, the incumbent must have a minimum of 5 years service experience in the cadre of Assistant Geologist.” 13. From the aforesaid provisions of Clause-5(3), it is noticeable that the post in the cadre of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist would be filled up by promotion from the cadre of Geologist having ten years of service as Geologist. Whereas Clause-5(5) provides that a post in the cadre of Geologist shall be filled up by promotion from the cadre of Assistant Geologist by an incumbent having a minimum qualifying service of five years. 14. As observed, as per the recommendation of the Expert Committee, the cadre of Geologist would be amalgamated with that of Senior Geologist, meaning thereby that there would be no further cadre of Geologist remaining in the Geologist Wing of the Directorate of Geology and Mining. In such event, if the recommendations of the Expert Committee is given effect, the requirement of clause-5(5) of the Service Order of 1998 would become redundant and would have no further purpose in respect of its provision relating to promotion to the cadre of Geologist. In such event, if the recommendations of the Expert Committee is given effect, the requirement of clause-5(5) of the Service Order of 1998 would become redundant and would have no further purpose in respect of its provision relating to promotion to the cadre of Geologist. In other words, in order to give effect to the recommendations of the Expert Committee, appropriate amendment would be required to the provisions of clause-5(3) of the Service Order of 1988, which otherwise provides that the post in the cadre of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist would be filled up from amongst candidates from the cadre of Geologist having ten years of service experience. 15. In the aforesaid background, by the impugned notification dated 06.10.2007, an amendment had been incorporated to the service order of 1988. As per clause-2 of the amendment order of 2007, the existing sub clause-3 of clause-5 had been deleted and in its place, the amended sub clause-3 had been substituted. The substituted Clause-5(3) is as follows:- “The post of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist shall be filled up by promotion from the cadre of Assistant Geologist. To be eligible for promotion to the post of Deputy Director/Sr. Geologist the incumbent must have at least ten years of service experience as Assistant Geologist. This shall be without prejudice to the incumbents presently holding the post of Geologist, who will continue to remain as Geologists till their promotion or superannuation. The incumbents presently holding the posts of Geologists shall be eligible for promotion to the post of Deputy Director/Sr. Geologist who have completed atleast ten years of service experience. However, for the purpose of 10(ten) years experience, their service as Geologists shall be counted along with their service as Assistant Geologist. 16. From a reading of the substituted clause 5(3), it is noticed that a post in the cadre of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist shall now be filled up by promotion from the cadre of Assistant Geologist having a qualifying period of at least 10 years as Assistant Geologist. But at the same time, the amended clause 5(3) also provides that without prejudice to the incumbents presently holding the post of Geologist, they would continue to remain as Geologist till their promotion or superannuation and that the present incumbents presently holding the post of Geologist shall be eligible for promotion to the post of Deputy Director/Senior Geologist after having completed at least 10 years of service experience. 17. The aforesaid provisions of the amended Clause-5(3) appear to this Court to be in conformity with the recommendations of the Expert Committee made in its recommendation dated 17.05.2006. As already discussed, the effect of the recommendations is that in order to be promoted as a Senior Geologist, an incumbent is required to have at least 10 years of service as an Assistant Geologist. The amendment provides that this category of Geologist who have not attained a combined qualifying period of 10 years as Assistant Geologist and Geologist, will continue to remain as Geologist for the time being till they attain the minimum qualifying period of 10 years of service and only upon attaining such minimum qualifying period of 10 years, they will be considered for promotion as Senior Geologist. 18. In such view of the matter, this Court does not find any reason to interfere with the amendment to Clause-5(3) of the Service Rules of 1988 as notified in the notification dated 06.10.2007. 19. But at the same time, it is also clarified that the incumbents in the cadre of Geologist, who had not attained the combined qualifying period of 10 years as Assistant Geologist and Geologist at the time of incorporating the amendment, shall have to be construed as Senior Geologist upon such Geologist having completed the combined minimum qualifying period of 10 years. If such view is not taken, the ultimate effect of the recommendations of the Expert Committee would remain frustrated and category of employees who had already been promoted in the meantime as Geologist after completing 05(five) years of qualifying service as Assistant Geologist would continue to remain as such without there being any further benefit being accrued to them as per the recommendations. The aforesaid confusion in the view of this Court had arisen in view of the fact that although Clause-5(3) of the Service Order of 1988 had been amended to Clause 5(5) remains as such and no amendment had been brought in to the said clause. 20. The aforesaid confusion in the view of this Court had arisen in view of the fact that although Clause-5(3) of the Service Order of 1988 had been amended to Clause 5(5) remains as such and no amendment had been brought in to the said clause. 20. Accordingly, in terms of the above observation, this writ petition is disposed of with an observation that upon giving effect to the recommendations of the Expert Committee, the respondent authorities shall construe the Class of Geologist, who were promoted as Geologist prior to the amendment upon attaining the qualifying period of 05(five) years as Assistant Geologist shall now be construed to be Senior Geologist upon completing of 10 years of combined qualifying service as Assistant Geologist and Geologist respectively. The aforesaid observation in the view of this Court would be consistent with the recommendations with the Expert Committee dated 17.05.2006 and would also serve the purpose, for which the amendment to Clause-3 of the Service Order of 1988 was brought in to effect.