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14. Article 141 of the Constitution states that the law declared by this Court shall be binding on all the courts within the territory of India. In N. Suresh Nathan & Ors. (supra) this Court has set aside the order of the Tribunal dated 09.01.1990 in O.A. No.552 of 1989 after declaring that Section Officers/Junior Engineers having three years' service in the grade after they acquired degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent will become qualified or eligible for promotion to the 50% vacancies meant for the category of degree-holders or equivalent. In N. Suresh Nathan & Ors. (supra) this Court has not declared any law on how these Sections Officers/Junior Engineers, who had become qualified or eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer under the category of degree- holders or equivalent, would be considered for such promotion. There was, therefore, no law declared by this Court on how Section Officers or Junior Engineers, who become qualified or eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer would be considered for promotion, which was binding on the courts under Article 141 of the Constitution.

19. Mr. Ganesh adopted these arguments of learned counsel for the appellants and cited the decision in Shailendra Dania & Ors. v. S. P. Dubey & Ors. [(2007) 5 SCC 535] wherein this Court interpreting the rules for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineers in CPWD, which has adopted by the DDA, found that 25% of the total posts of Assistant Engineers were to be filled up by promotion from the category of graduate Junior Engineers and 25% of the total posts were to be filled up by diploma-holders with eight years' service and held that a separate quota was, thus, prescribed for promotion of Junior Engineers for degree and diploma-holders to the higher post of Assistant Engineer. He submitted that in the aforesaid case of Shailendra Dania & Ors. (supra), this Court emphatically held that the service experience required for promotion from the post of Junior Engineer to the post of Assistant Engineer in the limited quota of degree-holder Junior Engineers in the service experience of a degree- holder and cannot be equated with the service rendered as a diploma-holder. Relying on this decision, learned counsel for the Government of Pondicherry submitted that the prior service experience of a Section Officer or Junior Engineer while he was diploma-holder and when he had not acquired the degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent cannot be counted for the purpose of consideration for the 50% quota of promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer meant for degree-holders.

21. Mr. Viswanathan cited this Court's decision in R. B. Desai & Anr. v. S. K. Khanolkar & Ors. [(1999) 7 SCC 54] for proposition that if at the time of consideration for promotion, the candidates concerned have acquired eligibility, then unless a rule specifically gives an advantage to a candidate with earlier eligibility, the date of seniority should prevail over the date of eligibility. He submitted that in the present case, the rules for promotion from the post of Section Officer or Junior Engineer to Assistant Engineer did not give any such priority to the candidates acquiring earlier eligibility. He submitted that Chandravathi P. K. & Ors. v. C.K. Saji & Ors. (supra) was a case where the rules, namely, the Kerala Engineering Service (General Branch) Rules, were different from the Recruitment Rules in the present case and the Kerala Engineering Service (General Branch) Rules clearly provided for two different streams or channels of promotion for the posts of Assistant Engineer, i.e. for diploma-holders and degree-holders. He submitted that in Shailendra Dania & Ors. v. S. P. Dubey & Ors. (supra) cited by the learned counsel for the appellants and the Government of Pondicherry, the question for consideration was whether a diploma-holder Junior Engineer, who obtained a degree while in service, became eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer on completion of three years of service after he obtained the Engineering degree or on completion of three years of service prior to obtaining the degree in Engineering and while answering this question, this Court held that a diploma-holder Junior Engineer became eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer on completion of three years' service after he obtained the Engineering degree. He submitted that the decision of this Court in Shailendra Dania & Ors. (supra), therefore, is not an authority for proposition that the service of diploma-holders put in prior to the acquisition of the degree or equivalent by him will have to be ignored while considering them for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer meant for degree holders.

"...... There is watertight compartment for graduate Junior Engineers and diploma-holder Junior Engineers. They are entitled for promotion in their respective quotas. Neither a diploma-holder Junior Engineer could claim promotion in the quota of degree-holders because he has completed three years of service nor can a degree-holder Junior Engineer make any claim for promotion quota fixed for diploma-holder Junior Engineers. [(2007) 5 SCC 533 at 560)]"