AR. LAKSHMANAN, C. J.

( 1 ) THESE two writ appeals arising out of an order passed by a learned single Judge of this Court in WP No. 24530 of 1997 dated 21-1-1999 were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. While Writ Appeal No. 216 of 1999 was filed by the respondents 1 and 2 in the writ petition viz. , Vice-Chancellor-cum-Chairman, sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati and the Registrar of the University respectively, writ Appeal No. 229 of 1999 was preferred by 3rd respondent-Dr. (Mrs.) K. Vijayakumari. For convenience sake, the parties will be referred to by their status in the writ petition.

( 2 ) THE writ petition was filed by dr. (Mrs.) T. Rajeswari to declare that the mandal Revenue Officer, Kavali-4th respondent in the writ petition has no power or authority to issue Caste Certificate dated 18-2-1988 to the 3rd respondent in view of the guidelines issued under the Presidential orders and various judgments of the supreme Court and High Courts and that the said Caste Certificate is null and void and be quashed. The writ petitioner also sought for a declaration that the 3rd respondent cannot be considered as belonging to Scheduled Caste community for the purpose of appointment to the post of zoology Lecturer in respect of the interview conducted by the University on 25-1-1989 and that her appointment as Zoology Lecturer be declared as null and void and be set aside and consequently it was prayed that a direction be issued to appoint the petitioner as Lecturer is Zoology in the 1 st respondent- university with retrospective effect from the date on which the 3rd respondent was appointed, with all the attendant benefits such as arrears of salaries, continuity of service etc.

( 3 ) BRIEFLY noted, the facts are: The registrar of Sri Venkateswara University (2nd respondent) made an advertisement in the month of October, 1988 calling applications from the eligible candidates for the posts of Lecturers, Readers and professors to be appointed in the said university in various departments. Advertisement was made for three posts of lecturers in Zoology Department. One post was meant for Open Competition, one post was reserved for Backward Class and the third vacancy was reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes. In pursuance of the said advertisement, the writ petitioner had applied as one of the candidates for the post of Lecturer in Zoology reserved for SC candidates. She was called for interview and participated in the interview before the selection Committee held on 25-1-1989. According to the petitioner, among the 12 candidates participated in the interview, she is the only candidate who is working as senior Research Fellow in the said University at that time and she is a native of Chittoor district. It is the case of the petitioner that she has fared well in the interview and answered all the questions before the selection Committee. The Selection committee, however, selected and appointed the 3rd respondent on the ground that though she belongs to a forward caste community, but married to a Scheduled Caste person and therefore she was given the benefit of the reservation of the said post reserved for scheduled Castes. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner filed WP No. 3719 of 1989 and this Court dismissed the said writ petition. However, in the Writ Appeal no. 902 of 1997 preferred there against, this court modified the order passed in the writ petition by substituting with an order permitting the petitioner to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to file a fresh writ petition inasmuch as the Mandal Revenue officer who issued the caste certificate was not made a party to the writ petition. Under these circumstances, the present writ petition was filed.

( 4 ) ACCORDING to the petitioner, the impugned action of the respondents in the writ petition is contrary to law, illegal and abuse of power vested in them and is not a bona fide action and is liable to be corrected and that the Vice-C

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