( 1 ) IN all these petitions which are instituted under Art. 226 of the Constitution, common questions of facts and law arise for the consideration of the Court. The petitioners have been appointed as Lecturers on ad hoc basis and by way of stop-gap arrangement in the subject of Applied Mechanics. Therefore, at the request of and with the consent of learned Counsels appearing in these petitions, the petitions are being disposed of by this common judgment.

( 2 ) EACH of the petitioners has prayed to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction restraining the respondents from terminating his services. The petitioner in each petition has also prayed to direct the respondents to regularise/confirm his services as Lecturer with all other consequential and incidental benefits. For recruitment to the post of Lecturer in Engineering/ technology/humanities/science (in different disciplines) in the Gujarat Educational service Class-II (Collegiate Branch) for Government Polytechnics under the directorate of Technical Education, Gujarat State, the Governor of Gujarat in exercise of powers conferred by the proviso to Art. 309 of the Constitution of India has made Rules known as the Lecturer Class-II in Engineering/technology/humanities/ science (in different disciplines) in Government Polytechnic Recruitment Rules, 1992. As per Rule 2 of the said Rules, appointment to the post of Lecturer in different disciplines has to be made by direct selection. The recruitment to the post of Lecturer in different disciplines is within the purview of the Gujarat Public Service commission ("g. P. S. C. " for short ). As and when the posts are required to be filled in, the Government sends the necessary requisition to the G. P. S. C. and the G. P. S. C. recommends the names of duly selected candidates after following the selection procedure and having regard to the eligibility criteria as laid down in the Recruitment rules of 1992.

( 3 ) IT is the duty of the State Government to provide for the tuition and training to the students prosecuting studies in Government Polytechnics and Government engineering Colleges. In view of the exigencies of the administration and looking to the pressure of the work as well as non-availability of the duly selected candidates, the State Government appointed petitioners as Lecturers on purely ad hoc basis by way of stop-gap arrangement. The details of appointment of the petitioners as lecturers on purely ad hoc basis are as under :the orders appointing the petitioners as ad hoc Lecturers stipulated that the appointment of the petitioners was for a period of 11 months or till the availability of the candidates regularly selected by G. P. S. C. A copy of the appointment order dated 30/07/1991 appointing the petitioner of Spl. Civil Application No. 11266 of 1994 on ad hoc basis is produced by him at Annexure "a" to the petition. Similar such orders have been produced by other petitioners also but it is not necessary to refer to those orders in detail.

( 4 ) IN order to appreciate the controversy, it would be advantageous to refer to certain facts which are almost admitted. The sanctioned strength of posts of lecturers in the subject of Applied Mechanics was 72 in the year 1992. Out of the 72 sanctioned posts, 31 Lecturers who were duly selected by the G. P. S. C. were recruited prior to 1992 and were discharging duties as such. Therefore, in the year 1992, the Government sent requisition to G. P. S. C. for recommending names of candidates for 41 posts. It is relevant to note that the Government requested the g. P. S. C. to recommend names of 25 candidates belonging to general category and names of 16 candidates belonging to reserved category. The G. P. S. C. was requested to recommend the names of duly selected 16 candidates belonging to reserved category because, as noted earlier, the total sanctioned strength was 72. Though the government sent necessary requisition to the G. P.