Judgment

HIDAYATULLAH, J.: These are fiftyfive writ petitions under Art. 32 of the Constitution invoking Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution against the State of Mysore and the Mysore Public Service Commission in respect of appointments made to certain services in the Mysore State. The petitioners who were applicants for some of the posts were unsuccesful while others were appointed. In some of the petitions the successful candidates are joined as respondents. The facts are as follows :

By a Notification dated September 26, 1959, the Mysore Public Service Commission announced that a competitive examination would be held for direct recruitment for Class I and Class II posts relating to certain Administrative Services and numerous applicants including the petitioners offered themselves as candidates. On September 5, 1960 the Public Service Commission modified the earlier Notification and instead of holding an examination announced that the selection would be made solely on the results of a viva-voce test. The petitioners characterised this change as opposed to the Mysore Administrative Service Recruitment Rules, 1957 but during the hearing of this petitions this ground of attack