JUDGMENT

M. Srinivasan, J.-These appeals are directed against the judgment of the Gauhati High Court in Civil Rule No. 3493/97 and 3544/97, both being writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution. Civil Rule No. 3493/97 was filed by respondents 1-25 in Civil Appeal Nos. 5242-43/98. Civil Rule No. 3544/97 was filed by respondents 26-42 in the said appeals. The appellants in the said appeals were not parties in either of the writ petitions in the High Court. Respondents 43, 43A, 44 and 45 in the said appeals were respondents 1-4 in Civil Rule No. 3493/97 and respondents 43, 43A and 44 were the respondents in Civil Rule No. 3544/97. We find it convenient to refer to the parties as arrayed in Civil Appeal Nos. 5242-5243/98.

2. The respondents 1-25 challenged in their writ petition the validity of Rules 4,5 and 8(vii) of the Assam Medical Colleges (Regulation of the Admission to the Post-Graduate Courses) Rules, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules ) on several grounds. Respondents 26-42 had in their writ petition prayed for a direction to allow them to appear in the entrance examination for the Session 1996-97 and that they should be admitted only on the basis of the perfo