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Rule 11 of the 1947 Rules which required the District
Judge to hold the examination in accordance with the former
Appendix II of the 1947 Rules which also stood superseded by
the 1950 Rules in view of rules 5 & 7 of the 1950 Rules
which dealt with the same subject, was however not replaced
nor a corresponding rule authorising the District Judge to
hold the competitive examination in accordance with the new
Appendix II was introduced by the 1969 Amending Rules into
the 1947 Rules simultaneously. The result was that while the
new Appendix II again re-appeared in the 1947 Rules
prescribing certain subjects and marks assigned to them, the
authority who should hold the competitive examination was
not again prescribed in the 1947 Rules. It was necessary to
re-enact rule 11 of the
1947 Rules because it also stood repealed by the 1950 Rules
which had made provision with regard to the topic contained
in the former rule 11. The legal position that by the
promulgation of the 1950 Rules, the former rules 9 to 12 of
the 1947 Rules stood repealed by necessary implication is
accepted even by the High Court in its letter dated February
12, 1973 referred to above. Therefore the former rule 11
should have been re-enacted either in the same form or with
modification and brought back to life to give effect to the
new Appendix II reintroduced in the 1947 Rules. Without such
reintroduction of rule 11, the mere reintroduction of
Appendix II in the 1947 Rules by the 1969 Amending Rules
would be meaningless and ineffective as the authority who
can hold the examination remained unspecified. The method of
selection of candidates also remained unspecified. In effect
whatever was provided in Rules 9 to 12 of the 1947 Rules
which was needed for conducting the examination and
selecting candidates was however unavailable. It is not
correct to assume that the old rules 9 to 12 also
automatically revived along with Appendix II without an
express provision reintroducing them. Here we are not trying
to be technical. It is to be noted that the 1969 Amending
Rules do not expressly state that the 1950 Rules would no
longer be applicable to the ministerial establishments of
the Subordinate Civil Courts. They also did not repeal the
item referring to the Judicial Department Subordinate Civil
Courts, which found a place in the schedule to the 1950
Rules. The discontinuance of the application of the 1950
Rules to the ministerial establishments of the subordinate
Civil Courts can only be inferred by relying upon the rule
of implied repeal provided the said rule is applicable.. An
implied repeal of an earlier law can be inferred only where
there is the enactment of a later law which had the power to
override the earlier law and is totally inconsistent with
the earlier law, that is, where the two laws - the earlier
law and the later law - cannot stand together. This is a
logical necessity because the two inconsistent laws cannot
both be valid without contravening the principle of
contradiction. The later laws abrogate earlier contrary
laws. This principle is, however, subject to the condition
that the later law must be effective. If the later law is
not capable of taking the place of the earlier law and for
some reason cannot be implemented, the earlier law would
continue to operate. To such a case the rule of implied
repeal is not attracted
because the application of the rule of implied repeal may
result in a vacuum which the law making authority may not
have intended. Now, what does Appendix II contain? It
contains a list of subjects and marks assigned to each of
them. But who tells us what that list of subjects means? It
is only in the presence of rule 11 one can understand the
meaning and purpose of Appendix II. In the absence of an
amendment re-enacting rule 11 in the 1947 Rules, it is
difficult to hold by the application of the doctrine of
implied repeal that the 1950 Rules have ceased to be
applicable to the ministerial establishments of the
Subordinate Civil Courts. The High Court overlooked this
aspect of the case and proceeded to hold that on the mere
reintroduction of the new Appendix II into the 1947 Rules,
the examinations could be held in accordance with the said
Appendix. We do not agree with this view of the High Court.