JUDGMENT

D.P. Mohapatra, J.-Leave is granted in all the special leave petitions.

2. The question that falls for determination in these appeals is whether the appellants are ex-servicemen for the purpose of appointment under the Punjab Recruitment of Ex-servicemen Rules (for short the Rules ). These appeals are directed against the common judgment of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dismissing the writ petitions filed by the appellants. Since all the writ petitions were disposed of by the judgment rendered in CWP No. 19084/98 filed by Sansar Chand Atri who is the appellant in the Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 3683 of 2000, the facts in that case are stated for sake of convenience :

3. In response to the advertisement dated 16.10.1998 issued by the Punjab Public Service Commission inviting applications for certain posts of the Punjab Civil Service (Judicial) Branch, which appeared in the newspaper Tribune on 16.10.98, the appellant submitted an application for appointment against one of the posts reserved for ex-servicemen. The competitive examination for recruitment to the post was to commence from 21.12.1998. The appellant was informed by the Commission that he coul