Under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, do Supreme Court directions in a service matter bind authorities even without a direct challenge to the unamended rule?

Yes — once review and clarification petitions against the Supreme Court's directions stand dismissed, the judgment becomes the law of the land under Article 142 and must be followed by the authorities concerned, and absence of a challenge to the first proviso does not permit its continued application in violation of that judgment.

Tamil Nadu Special Rules for Police Subordinate Service — First proviso to Rule 25(a) — Constitution of India — Article 142 — Seniority of directly recruited Sub Inspectors of Police — Selection marks versus training marks — Binding effect of Supreme Court directions — Tamil Nadu Special Rules for Police Subordinate Service, First proviso to Rule 25(a) — Effect of Supreme Court directions on rule providing for training marks — Held: The first proviso to Rule 25(a), which contemplated fixation of seniority of directly recruited Sub Inspectors on the basis of marks obtained in the final training examination, loses its relevance once the Supreme Court has directed that seniority be fixed solely on marks obtained in the selection process; the Government must re-frame Rule 25 to conform to that dictum. (¶10) Selection process versus police training — Distinction between selection marks and training marks for seniority — Held further: Selection and training are two distinct stages — appointment orders are issued on the basis of the merit rank in the select list published by the Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, and training marks obtained thereafter during the probation period are relevant only to confirmation of service, not to fixation of seniority. (¶9, 10) Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 142 — Binding nature of Supreme Court directions as law of the land — Held further: A direction issued by the Supreme Court in exercise of its jurisdiction, once the review and clarification applications against it stand dismissed, becomes the law of the land under Article 142 of the Constitution of India and must be followed by the authorities concerned notwithstanding the absence of a direct challenge to the unamended proviso. (¶10) Intra-court appeal — Maintainability — Scope of writ order under review — Held further: Where the review order limits itself to directing preparation of a combined seniority list for a specific recruitment batch without disturbing the core direction to fix seniority on selection marks, no infirmity arises in the writ order impugned; the Writ Appeal is dismissed with no order as to costs. (¶11)

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