JUDGMENT

SAWANT, J.—The petitioner-applicants are some of the Medical Officers who were recruited by the railways on ad hoc basis as Assistant Divisional Medical Officers between 1968 and October 1, 1984. They were appointed as such ad hoc employees by way of a stopgap arrangement pending the regular recruitment to the said posts through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC for short), according to the rules. It appears that although from time to time the UPSC recruited candidates on regular basis, there remained some vacancies unfilled, either because the doctors recruited were less in number than the number of vacancies since suitable candidates were not available or some of those who were selected did not join the service or between the date of advertisement by the UPSC and that of the empanelling, some more vacancies occurred. Whatever the reasons, the fact was that even after the UPSC undertook the exercise of recruiting the doctors from time to time, some vacancies always remained unfilled. The result was that every time the petitioner-applicants and others like them were continued on ad hoc basis as a stopgap arrangement till the next recruitment by the UPSC. It may be