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 Government added the castes of 'kalal', 'kalwar' and 'kalar', in the list of other backward classes by amending the First Schedule to the U. P. Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act 1994 ('act' for short ). The first respondent in C. A. No. 2627 of 2006 belongs to caste 'kalar' and the first respondent in C. A. No. 2632 of 2006 belongs to the caste 'kalal'. They obtained caste certificates dated 2-8-2000 and 24-8-2000. They made representations dated 29-8-2000 and 13-9-2000 respectively to the Commission to accept their caste cer-tificates and extend them the benefit of reservation as candidates belonging to other backward classes. The same was not accepted. As they had applied for the post as general category candidates, their applications were considered as general category candidates. They were not selected. Feeling aggrieved, they filed writ petitions be-fore the High Court of Allahabad contending that they ought to have been treated as obc candidates and if they had been so treated then they would have been selected as they were more meritorious than the last selected candidate in the OBC category. The High Court, by orders dated 27-2-2003 and 19-12-2003, allowed their petitions following its earlier decision in Km. Amrita Singh and Ors. v. State of U. P. and Anr. (Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 28193/2000 decided on 7-5-2001) and directed them to be treated as OBC candidates. The said judgments are challenged in these appeals by special leave.

( 3 ) THE High Court held that the status of the writ petitioners as on the date when the selection process was deemed to have been initiated, was the relevant factor to decide whether they were entitled to claim the benefit of reservation, in view of the special provision contained in Section 15 of the Act, extracted below.

"15. Savings - (1) The provisions of this Act shall not apply to cases in which selection process has been initiated before the commencement of this Act and such cases shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of law and government orders as they stood before such commencement. Explanation - For the purposes of this sub-section the selection process shall be deemed to have been initiated where, under the relevant service rules, recruitment is to be made on the basis of- (i) written test or interview only, the written test or the interview, as the case may be, has started, or (ii) both written test and interview, the written test has started. xxx xxxx xxxx the High Court held that as the process of selection was deemed to have been initi-ated when the written test was started and as the Schedule I to the Act was amended prior to the commencement of written test, the writ petitioners should be treated as obc candi