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( 15 ) Reliance may be usefully placed on the judgment of this Court in the case of Madhav govindrao Budhe vs. Education Officer, Zilla panshad, Nagpur and others, 1994 Mh.L.J.42 (6) wp11609.17.odt (Sambre and Sirpurkar, JJ.) wherein a similar issue fell for consideration based on the provisions of Secondary Schools Code as was then prevailing and this Court held that principle of continuous officiation is squarely applicable to decide the seniority of trained Assistant Teachers falling in Category 'C' even if one has B. Ed. qualification and other has D.Ed. qualification so long as both of them are Graduates. Annexure (45)which was in relation to Rules 61 and 63 of the secondary Schools Code provided guidelines for fixation of seniority list of the Teachers in the non-Government Secondary Schools. Categories of teachers were also set out in Annexure (45) and Rule 3 therein read as under:

"It is an admitted position that the petitioner was only a marticulate when he joined the service. He acquired diploma in teaching in the year 1962 and on 31-12-1965 he was an undergraduate trained Teacher. Thus, he belonged to Category 'D' at the time when he was confirmed. Now after the advent of the Secondary Schools Code, the petitioner, for the First time in the year 1967, became a graduate and thus stepped into Category 'C'. He stepped into this category because of the improvement of his qualifications. Category 'C' is applicable to those who hold degree of B.A./B.Sc./S.T.C./Dip.Ed. (one year course) or its equivalent. Therefore, in the year 1967, the petitioner belonged to Category 'C' being a graduate and having a diploma in teaching."

The ratio laid down in the case of Madhav (supra) by this Court is squarely applicable to the present case, which is under 1981 Rules wherein schedule F framed under Rule 12 is on par with Annexure 45 framed under Rules 61 and 63 of the secondary Schools Code.

A similar issue also came up for consideration before the Apex Court recently in the case of D. Stephen Joseph vs. Union of India and others, 1997 (4) SCC 753. The question for (7) wp11609.17.odt consideration before the Apex Court was regarding counting of service after obtaining graduation degree in Engineering for the purpose of promotion to the post of assistant Engineer in respect of diploma holder engineer holding the post of Junior Engineer and it was held that requirement of three years experience does not commence after obtaining graduation degree in Engineering and even the experience prior to obtaining degree in engineering will have to be counted for deciding the eligibility for promotion. In the case before the Supreme Court, the Central Administrative tribunal, Madras Bench by the impugned order had held that the respondents, who were holding the posts of Junior Engineers and had three years regular service on that grade and also possessed degree in Electrical Engineering would be entitled to get such promotion to 50% reserved quota and their experience of three years was not to be reckoned from the date of acquisition of degree in electrical Engineering. Upon challenge of the said order, the Apex Court upheld the order of the tribunal and confirmed that the experience of three years was not required to be reckoned from the date of acquisition of degree in Electrical engineering."