JUDGMENT

K.G. Balakrishnan, J.-Leave granted.

2. Aggrieved by the judgment of the Division Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh in C.W.P. No. 9655 of 1999 and C.W.P. No. 15317 of 1999, the present appeals are filed by the party respondents and the State of Haryana respectively. By the impugned judgment, the Division Bench held that the contesting party respondents (appellants in the civil appeals arising from SLP (Civil) Nos. 4341-42 of 2000) were not entitled to be promoted as Executive Engineers and that the claim of the petitioner in the writ petitions shall be considered.

3. Initially, Satish Kumar Kakkar, the first respondent in these appeals, filed a writ petition (C.W.P. No. 9655 of 1999) claiming that he alone was entitled to be promoted as Executive Engineer and contended that the third respondent therein, namely, O.P. Lather, then working as Asstt. Engineer, lacked the requisite educational qualification for promotion as Executive Engineer. The Division Bench held that the said third respondent did not have the requisite qualification for promotion to the post of Executive Engineer and directed that the post of Executive Engineer be filled up in accordance wi