1. Nine petitions captioned above were heard together and are treated for disposal by this common judgment as they constitute a group, involving similar facts and identical issues.

2. The petitioners were the aspirants for appointment to the post of Assistant Public Prosecutor. Having fared unsuccessful in the recruitment process by unable to meet with the qualifying criteria for selection, they filed the present petitions seeking to set aside the declaration of result by the respondent Gujarat Public Service Commission, as also to get set aside the consequential steps including the preparation of final selection list. The further prayer made was to declare that the prescription of minimum qualifying marks in the viva voce test was illegal. The petitioners want themselves to be considered as duly selected candidates for the appointment to the posts.

2.1 Each of the petitioners stood unqualified as could not obtain minimum qualifying marks in the viva voce and personality test. The petitioner of Special Civil Application No.12701 of 2016 got 269 marks in the written test but could score 17 marks in the viva voce which was below the minimum qualifying 25 marks. She belonged t