Judgment

C.K. Thakker, J. —

1.The present appeals are directed against the Judgment and Order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir (Jammu Bench) on October 11, 2002 in LPA (SW) No. 466 of 2001 and also against an Order dated February 2, 2003 rejecting Review (LPASW) No. 42 of 2002.

2.The facts of the case in short are that under the Jammu & Kashmir Police Manual, certain posts of Sub-Inspector of Police (‘PSI’ for short) were to be filled in. The appellants herein were Constables. They made a representation on January 8, 1987 along with Mohd. Abbas, Mohd. Amin and Hamidullah Dar. A similar representation was also made on the same day by one Abdul Rashid Rather to Hon’ble the Chief Minister of the State of Jammu & Kashmir. In both the representations, a request was made to consider the cases of the respective applicants for appointment to the post of PSI by granting necessary relaxation in Rules against 50% direct recruitment quota as envisaged by Regulation 174 of Chapter VII of Jammu & Kashmir Police Manual. The representations made by the petitioners and other persons were sent by the office of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir for comments to