JUDGMENT :

1. All these petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, essentially deal with the interpretation of the Range Forest Officer, Class-II, Recruitment Rules, 2008. In focus especially is Rule 5 of the said rules which provides that a candidate appointed by direct selection to the post of Range Forest Officer, Class-II, shall be required to undergo a walking test of 25 kilometers in case of a male candidate and 16 kilometers in case of a female candidate within four hours duration.

2. The petitioners of Special Civil Application No. 4373 of 2022, 4665 of 2022 and 13490 of 2022 are Range Forest Officers, who after their successfully undertaking the examination process under the Assistant Conservator of Forest/Range Forest Officer's Competitive Examination Rules, 2008, found their names in part-I of the merit list. Subsequently, on appearing at the walking test and having succeeded at the first attempt, they have assailed the stand of the State in giving the private respondents in the respective petitions a second chance to undertake a walking test. It