P.K. BALASUBRAMANYAN, J.

The petitioner in Civil Writ Petition No. 2294 of 2003 on the file of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana is the appellant in this Appeal. The Appeal challenges the decision of the High Court dismissing the writ petition. Civil Writ Petition No. 2294 of 2003 was heard along with a number of other writ petitions filed by persons similarly situated and was treated as the main case. Before the High Court, it was the common case of the parties in the various writ petitions that the facts and the position in law in all the cases were typical of the facts and law arising in Civil Writ Petition (CWP) No. 2294 of 2003 and that the decision in C.W.P. No. 2294 of 2003 will govern all the cases and hence may be treated as the main case. The High Court acceded to this request and answered the main points in CWP No. 2294 of 2003. Finding against the case of the writ petitioner, the writ petition was dismissed. Applying the decision, the other writ petitions were also dismissed. Appeals were filed against those decisions also. The appeals were heard together. The present appeal arising from the main judgment was treated as the main appeal. The questions arising for decis