JUDGMENT

AGRAWAL, J.— This appeal and the concerned petitions for special leave to appeal are directed against the common judgment of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court dated July 22, 1986 whereby the judgment of the learned Single Judge has been set aside and the writ petitions filed by the appellant as well as the petitioners in the special leave petitions (referred to as the petitioners for the sake of convenience) have been dismissed.

2. The petitioners joined the Indian Army as Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs) in 1963 after the Chinese aggression. They were discharged from the Army during the years 1967 to 1970. After their discharge from the Army, they joined the Commercial Tax Service of the State of Tamil Nadu on being selected by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission through a competitive examination. For rehabilitation of ECOs/Short Service Regular Commissioned Officers (SSRCOs) on their release from the Armed Forces, the Government of Tamil Nadu had by G.O.Ms. No. 84 dated January 1,1967, reserved 25 per cent of the vacan-cies to be filled by direct recruitment during the four years 1967-1970 in respect of certain categories of posts in the State service