employee had made to clear the exam would be relevant. It was held by this Court that consideration for promotion must be dependent only on an employee passing the examination and the number of attempts would be irrelevant. In this case, the admitted fact is that all the petitioners passed the qualifying examination although after more than 5 attempts. It is stated by the counsel for the State that in terms of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Saroj Rani Verus State of Punjab in Civil Appeal Nos.11660-11661 of 1995 , all the persons had been promoted to the post of Assistant. If the petitioners have secured the benefit, nothing more need be done, but if they have not secured the benefit, it should be taken that they became eligible for consideration for promotion after passing the qualifying examination against a vacancy that may have existed at the relevant time. It should be taken as declared that the number of attempts for passing the examination would be irrelevant. The petitioners must, therefore, be taken as having been promoted on the day when the juniors, namely, respondents 5 to 10 were promoted and they will be entitled to all the consequential benefits arising therefor.
