JUDGMENT

Shivaraj V. Patil, J.-In these Special Leave Petitions, the judgment and order dated 10.4.2000 passed by the Division Bench of Madras High Court in Writ Petition Nos. 16766-16772 of 1999, 17167, 17878, 18834 & 20598 of 1999 and 4064 of 2000 are under challenge. S.L.P. No. 14656 of 2000 is filed by the applicants in O.A. No. 93/99 before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chennai Bench who were the respondents in the writ petition before the High Court. S.L.P. No. 2377 of 2001 is filed by the petitioners in W.P. No. 16766 of 2000 in the writ petition before the High Court.

2. In short, the facts and events leading to filing of these Special Leave Petitions are:-

The Railway Board issued Employment Notification No. 1 of 1995 dated 7.9.1995 inviting applications for 330 posts of Khalasis (Group-D) reserving 19 of posts for Scheduled Castes, 1 for scheduled Tribes and 27 for OBCs besides 3 for Physically Handicapped and 20 for Ex-Servicemen. In response to the Notification, 58,675 applications were received, out of them 32,563 candidates were found eligible and called for interview. The Railway Board by its letter dated 17.5.1996 communicated its decision to prepare a p