JUDGMENT :

(Kuldeep Mathur, J.)

1. The instant intra court appeals involve common question of law and hence, the same are heard and decided together by this order.

2. The question to be adjudicated upon is whether an applicant who has taken customary divorce is entitled to apply in the category of ‘Divorcee Female’, without presenting decree of divorce granted by competent civil court before the cutoff date, as stipulated in the terms and conditions governing the recruitment process.

3. It is pleaded that respondent Nos.1 in the appeals belong to Scheduled Tribe/Tribal Sub Plan Area and had applied against advertised posts indicating their categories as ‘Divorcee’. The respondents however, at the time of document verification were disqualified on the count that they did not possess a decree of divorce as on the last date of filing application forms. Being aggrieved by the non-inclusion of the names in the final select list, the respondents approached the learned Single Bench seeking a direction upon the appellants for appointment under ‘Divorcee’ category.

4. Learned Single Bench allowed the writ petitions holding that the respondents belong to Scheduled Tribe community and therefor