ORDER :

The only thing left in the selection process was issuance of appointment letters in favour of the selected persons i.e. the three petitioners herein. At that stage, the respondents cancelled the entire selection process, giving cause of action to the petitioners to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court.

2. After hearing learned counsel on both the sides and on going through the pleadings of parties, the admitted factual position that emerges is :-

2(i). On 12.07.2021, Station Headquarters Shimla (respondent No.4) ordered the Board of Officers to publish advertisement for recruitment of 3 Firemen against NACs in national and local newspapers. The recruitment notice was accordingly published on 21.07.2021 in ‘The Times of India’ & ‘Himachal Jagran’. Applications were invited in this notice from eligible male candidates for the three posts of Firemen. Two out of these three posts were meant for General category candidates and one was reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes category. The eligibility criteria was also laid down in the advertisement.

2(ii). The petitioners applied for the post in question under the advertisement. The Board of Officers of t