ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.

( 1 ) CHALLENGE in this appeal is to the order passed by a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court allowing the writ petition filed by respondent No. 1.

( 2 ) A brief reference to the factual position would suffice: respondent No. 1 filed a writ petition before the Allahabad High Court alleging that he was not granted permission to operate Gramin PCO and his prayer was that he should have been granted such permission. Appellants who were the respondents 1 to 4 in the writ petition took the stand that according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Communication one Gramin PCO (described in the guidelines as Village Public Telephone, in short the 'vpt') already existing in the concerned village and, therefore, the prayer of the writ petitioner could not be accepted in view of the guidelines. The High Court by a cryptic non-reasoned order held that the conditions in the guidelines "appear to be arbitrary" and hence violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the 'constitution' ). Accordingly direction was granted to allot a VPT to the writ petitioner within the stipulated time.

( 3 ) APPELLANTS have challenged the order on the ground t