As both these writ petitions involve a common issue, they are taken up for consideration together and disposed by this common judgment. For the sake of convenience, the reference to facts and exhibits is from 2011.

2. The petitioner is a visually impaired person with 100% disability as certified by a Medical Board. She acquired an LLB Degree followed by a Post Graduate Degree (LLM) and also obtained the National Eligibility Test [NET] qualification that is mandated by the University Grants Commission for appointment as Lecturers. In the year 2008, the petitioner responded to Ext.P3 notification dated 29.1.2008 issued by the Kannur University inviting applications for the post of Lecturer in Law. In the said notification, one post of Lecturer in the Department of Law was notified, and was reserved for physically handicapped persons. The notification made it clear that if there were no eligible candidates from the category for which the post was reserved, candidates belonging to other eligible categories including open category would be considered strictly as per the norms stipulated in the Kerala State & Subordinate Services Rules, 1958. The qualifications for the post of Lec