Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Leave granted.

2. In these appeals challenge is to the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court holding that the selection of the appellants for the post of Lecturers in the Department of Defence and Strategic studies was illegal.

3. The factual background in a nuthsell is as follows:

Punjabi University, Patiala through its Registrar issued an advertisement in the newspapers on July 25, 2002 vide which various posts of Readers as well as Lecturers for different departments were advertised. Three posts of Lecturers in the Department of Defence & Strategic Studies were advertised. The last date for receipt of applications from eligible persons was indicated as August 12, 2002. Through a corrigendum later on, the last date for receipt of the applications was extended up to September 16, 2002. As per the rules and regulations of the respondent-University, the eligible conditions for applying to the post of Lecturer in the University are as follows:

“(a) The basic qualification for the post of Lecturers is MA in defence Strategic Studies and eligibility test for the Lecturership conducted/accredited by UGC.

(b) The candidates who have completed M.Phil degree by 31st Dec. 1993 or have submitted Ph.D. Thesis to the University in the concerned subject before 31st Dec. 2002 are exempted from appearing the NET/SET examination conducted by the UGC.

(c) As per the advertisement the candidate must have passed Punjabi in Matriculation examination or have passed Punjabi Prabodh or Punjabi Praveshika Examination. Candidates belonging to States other than Punjab or Union Territory Chandigarh, who have not passed Punjabi at Matric level are required to pass Punjabi Prabodh examination from language Department, Punjab Patiala before appearing for interview.”

4. Mr. Ajay Sondhi and Suveer Singh filed writ applications challenging selection of the appellants as Lecturers. The writ petitioners Ajay Sondhi and Suveer Singh claimed that being eligible candidates and fulfilling all the terms and conditions, they had applied for the post of a Lecturer in Defence and Strategic Studies before the last date of submission of the applications. They qualified at eligibility test for Lecturership in University and Colleges, conducted by University Grants Commission. It was further specifically pleaded by them that they had studied Punjabi in matriculation also.

5. They made a grievance that Umrao Singh and Kewal Krishan who had applied for the post of Lecturer were not eligible as they were not qualified. Umrao Singh had not qualified the eligibility test for the Lecturership in Universities and Colleges, as required by the University Grants Commission and was not even exempted from the aforesaid test, since he had submitted his Ph.D thesis on September 23, 2002 only i.e. after the last date of receipt of the applications. Similarly, Kewal Krishan was not eligible since he had not passed his matriculation examination with Punjab language. Accordingly, it was claimed that the selection of the aforesaid Umrao Singh and Kewal Krishan was totally contrary to the University Rules and Regulations and also contrary to the advertisement.

6. The claim of the writ-petitioners Ajay Sondhi and Suveer Singh was resisted by the respondents, i.e. the University and the non-official respondents. The university submitted that Umrao Singh had submitted his thesis for evaluation on 16.9.2002 and not on 23.9.2002 as was claimed. Reliance was also placed on a decision dated 10.1.2003 whereby the Syndicate had decided that period of two years would be given to the recruits/selectees for passing Punjabi upto matriculation examination and the condition of Punjabi upto matriculation level at the time of recruitment shall not be implemented and the aforesaid examination was to be conducted by the University itself. The High Court was of the view that though by corrigendum the last date was extended upto 16.9.2002, the original date was