Section 2(a) in Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965
(a)"appointing authority", in relation to a Government servant, means -(i)the authority empowered to make appointments to the Service of which the Government servant is for the time being a member or to the grade of the Service in which the Government servant is for the time being included, or(ii)the authority empowered to make appointments to the post which the Government servant for the time being holds, or(iii)the authority which appointed the Government servant to such Service, grade or post, as the case may be, or(iv)where the Government servant having been a permanent member of any other Service or having substantively held any other permanent post, has been in continuous employment of the Government, the authority which appointed him to that Service or to any grade in that Service or to that post, whichever authority is the highest authority;
