A Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Comprising Chief Justice N. Koteshwar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi has finally set the issue of Seniority of Patwaris to rest. The court holds that the Seniority of Patwaris has to be on the basis of their merit position obtained in the departmental examination and not on the basis of merit in initial selection process conducted by BOPEE for selecting patwaris. The Court while determining the question of seniority of Patwaris, observed that initial selection of Patwari Trainees was only for training purposes; thus, the merit position obtained in the departmental Examination will be the sole Basis for determining seniority. The Court passed these observations in light of Rule 24 of CCA Rules, 1956  which provide for determining the seniority on the basis of merit obtained in the recruitment examination.