JUDGMENT :

Dipankar Datta, J.

P.C.:

1. This batch of six writ petitions are at the instance of multiple petitioners. These petitioners had responded to Advertisement No.5/2019 published by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (hereafter “the MPSC”, for short) inviting applications from eligible candidates for selection and ultimate appointment on vacant posts of engineers in the Maharashtra Engineering Services. It is the specific claim of the petitioners that not only have they cleared the preliminary examination conducted by the MPSC, but also the mains examination. However, it is alleged that during the course of the selection process initiated by the MPSC several Government Resolutions (hereafter “GRs”, for short) have been issued which have the effect of impeding the petitioners’ right of consideration for such appointment.

2. The cause of action, as pleaded in the writ petitions, is common. All the petitioners belong to Economically Weaker Section (hereafter “E.W.S.”, for short) category and had applied as such for selection and appointment on posts reserved for E.W.S category of candidates. The Supreme Court in Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil vs. The Chief Minister & Ors. (2021) 2