JUDGMENT :

MEHTA, J.

1. The instant intra court appeal calls into question the judgment dated 17.02.2021 passed by the learned Single Bench of this court, whereby S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.680/2021 (Ashok Ram & Ors. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.) preferred by the appellants herein was dismissed.

2. The moot controversy involved in this appeal is whether the respondents were justified in applying the Most Backward Category (for short, ‘MBC’) and Economically Backward Section (for short, ‘EWS’) reservation to the ongoing recruitment process initiated by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (for short, ‘RPSC’) vide advertisement dated 13.04.2018 for making selection to the posts of Lecturer (School Education). At inception, the advertisement provided reservation only to the candidates of SC, ST, OBC, SBC and PH categories. The mode of Selection was through competitive examination and the last date for submitting the application forms was 16.06.2018. While the recruitment process was still in progress, an order dated 23.06.2019 came to be issued by the State Government clarifying that 5% reservation for MBC and 10% reservation for EWS had been introduced by Notifications dated 13.02.2019 and 19.02.2019 respectively and thus, it was considered expedient to apply these reservations to such recruitment processes, where examinations had not been held at any stage. It was also stipulated in the same order that advertised posts shall be re-categorized and the recruiting agency in question shall issue an amended notification and further procedure to be adopted was also indicated. As a consequence of the order dated 23.06.2019, the RPSC issued a corrigendum dated 19.09.2019 providing enhanced reservation for MBC category and reservation for EWS category by carving out the required number of posts from the unreserved category. Being aggrieved of the order dated 23.06.2019 and the corrigendum dated 19.09.2019, the appellants-petitioners, who are candidates of unreserved category, filed the Writ Petition No.680/2021 before learned Single Bench claiming that by advertisement dated 13.04.2018, total 5000 posts of Lecturer (School Education) in 20 subjects had been advertised, of which 2541 posts were meant for unreserved/open category candidates. However, on account of the corrigendum dated 19.09.2019 providing for enhanced reservation, the posts earmarked for unreserved category had been reduced to 2050 by reserving 491 posts for MBC and EWS categories.

3. On behalf of the writ petitioners-appellants, two submissions were mainly advanced before the learned single Bench. Firstly that the order dated 23.06.2019 could not have been applied in the ongoing recruitment process, which had been initiated on 13.04.2018, i.e. well before issuance of the Notifications dated 13.02.2019 and 19.02.2019 and secondly that in any event, the posts earmarked for the unreserved candidates could not have been reduced.

4. The learned Single Bench, considered the pleadings of the parties, the material placed on record and the submissions advance at bar and held that the issue at hand stood adjudicated by this court vide judgment dated 06.12.2019 rendered in the case of Surendra Singh Rathore Vs. State of Rajasthan [S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.13208/2019] and cognate matters as affirmed by the learned Division Bench vide judgment dated 20.07.2020 rendered in the case of Bhagvat Singh & Ors. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. [D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No.176/2020]. After appreciating the submissions advanced at bar, the learned Single Bench, turned down the prayer made by the petitioners herein and dismissed the writ petition by final order/judgment dated 17.02.2021, which is assailed in this intra court appeal.

5. Mr. R.N. Mathur, learned Senior Advocate, assisted by Mr. Lokesh Mathur, learned counsel representing the appellants-petitioners, vehemently and fervently contended that the impugned judgment is bad in the eyes of law. The notifications dated 13.02.2019