R. V. RAVEENDRAN, J.

( 1 ) THE appellant Uttar Pradesh Public Service Com-mission, ('commission' for short) issued an advertisement dated 4-3-2000 inviting application for filling 147 posts of Civil Judge (Jr. Division) under the U. P. Nyayik sewa Niyamavali 1951. The provisions relating to essential qualifications in the said advertisement contained the following note :

"candidate must possess all qualifications prescribed in the advertisement by last date for acceptance of Application form. Any candidate coming under the reserva-tions category, if they want the benefit of reservation must indicate their category in the relevant column in the prescribed format and should obtain the certificate issued by the Competent Authority in the prescribed format printed in the advertisement and annex an attested copy of it along with Application form. "

The respective first respondent in each of these two appeals made applications claim-ing to be general category candidates. The written examination was held on 4th, 5th and 6th August 2000 and the two candidates participated in the said examination as general category candidates.

( 2 ) IN the meanwhile, by notification dated 7-7-2000, the State