As per case facts, a Section Officer, a member of the Scheduled Caste, was deemed ineligible for promotion to Accounts Officer due to not meeting the required service period as ... per administrative instructions. Other Section Officers who met the service requirements were promoted. The aggrieved officer filed a Writ Petition, contending that the administrative instructions were inconsistent with the recruitment rules and were issued without proper competence. The High Court allowed the petition, finding the instructions inconsistent and incompetent, prompting the Union of India to appeal. The question arose whether administrative instructions prescribing a minimum service period for promotion, a matter not explicitly covered by the recruitment rules, were inconsistent with those rules and if the Comptroller and Auditor General possessed the competence to issue such instructions. Finally, the Supreme Court ruled that the instructions were not inconsistent with the rules, as the rules did not stipulate the specific eligibility criteria for promotion. The Court also affirmed the Comptroller and Auditor General's competence to issue such administrative instructions, provided they do not conflict with existing rules, which was not the case here.