S. MURALIDHAR, J.

1. 55 Petitioners who applied pursuant to an Employment Notice issued by the Railway Board for the post of Constable (Water Carrier) etc. in the Railway Protection Force ("RPF") including the Railway Protection Special Force ("RPSF") in seven different categories including Water Carrier, Safaiwala, Washerman, Barber, Mali, Tailor and Cobbler have filed the present petition for directions to the Respondents to appoint them to the vacancies in the above posts.

2. The background facts are that Employment Notice No. 1/2013 dated 6th December, 2013 was issued by the Railway Board inviting applications for the aforementioned post of Constables. The number of vacancies to be filled up was 659. There were 406 vacancies in the post of Constable (Water Carrier), 117 for Constable (Safaiwala), 53 for Constable (Washerman), 61 for Constable (Barber), 7 for Constable (Mali), 9 for Constable (Tailor) and 6 for Constable (Cobbler). Subsequently, the above 659 vacancies were revised to 763 vacancies across the board for all categories.

3. The notes in the notice read as under:

"Note (1) Reservation for Ex-servicemen will be 10% of the vacancies in all trades in respective category. Note (2) 10% of the vacancies shall be filled up by Female candidates.

Note (3) (a) The number of vacancies shown under various categories are provisional and may increase or decrease or even become nil depending upon the requirement of the Railway Administration.

(b) The Railway Administration reserves the right to cancel the recruitment as well as the notified vacancies at its discretion at any time and such decision shall be binding on all concerned.

(c) In the event of cancellation of notified vacancies, the examination fee will not be refunded.

(d) These posts have not been identified as suitable for persons with disabilities and hence they have been exempted from the purview of Section 33 and 47 of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act. 1995 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

(e) After recruitment, finally selected candidates are liable to serve anywhere in India in Railway Protection Special including Railway Protection Special Force."

4. Para 4 of the notice specified the eligibility conditions. The minimum educational qualification was

"Matriculation or equivalent from a recognized Board/University. Educational certificate other than State Board/Central Board should be accompanied with Govt. of India notification declaring that such qualification is equivalent to Matriculation/10th Class pass for service under Central Govt. or ITI."

5. As far as age limit is concerned, it had to be not less than 18 years and not more than 25 years as on 1st January, 2014. There was relaxation in the upper age limit up to five years for SC/ST candidates; for up to three years for OBC candidates; for Ex-service men up to the extent of service rendered in defence plus three years provided they had put in more than six months service after attestation and five years to candidates who have ordinarily domiciled in the State of J & K from 1st January, 1980 to 31st December, 1989. There was no age relaxation for SC/ST/OBC candidates applying against unreserved vacancies. As far as physical measurements were concerned, the criteria was as under:

Category	Height for male (in cm.)	Chest unexpanded (in cm.)	Chest expanded (in cm)*	Height for female (in cm.)
UR/OBC	165	80	85	157
SC/ST	160	76.2	81.2	152
Hillman**	163	80	85	155

* A minimum expansion of 5 cm in chest is essential.

** (Garhwalis, Gorkhas, Kumaonese, Dogras, Marathas, person hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Ladakh, Kashmir Valley and North Eastern States subject to production of domicile certificate from DM,SDM/Tehsildar and other categories specified by the Central Government