Dhiraj Singh Thakur, J.—The present Letters Patent Appeals have been preferred against a common judgment and order dated 25.4.2008 whereby the writ petitions filed by the appellants herein have been dismissed.

2. Briefly stated the material facts are as under:

3. The Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (for short, ‘Board’) issued an advertisement notice bearing No. 3 of 2004 dated 14.9.2004, inter alia, inviting applications for 38 posts of Foresters in various categories for the Jammu Division.

4. According to the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Subordinate Service Recruitment Rules, 1991 (for short, Rules of 1991), the minimum qualification prescribed for the post of Forester is 10+2 or equivalent with science subject. The petitioners being eligible applied and were subjected to the procedure of shortlisting by undergoing a height test and a physical test. All the petitioners were then called for interview. For the purposes of making the selection, the following criteria was prescribed:—

(i)	10+2	:	30 points.
(ii)	Simple graduation	:	10 points.
(iii)	B.Sc. Forestry	:	25 points.
(iv)	Post graduation	:	5 points.
(v)	D.D.R	:	10 points.
(vi)	Interview	:	20 points.

5. The admitted case of the parties is that the candidates were subjected to the process of interview on the basis of the aforementioned criteria. However, according to the stand of the Board, during the process of interview, some of the candidates highlighted that they were possessed of a four years professional degree of B.Sc. in Forestry as against a three years academic degree in B.Sc. Forestry obtained by some of the candidates, who were also appearing in the selection process. Their grievance, according to the Board, was that two sets of candidates could not have been treated as equal for purposes of grant of 25 points as were prescribed for the candidates possessing B.Sc. degree in Forestry.

6. According to the stand of the Board, the matter was discussed with the Forest department, which responded with a clarification dated 30.8.2007, by observing as under:—

“The Three years B.Sc. Forestry Degree of HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttranchal, may not be considered equivalent to Four years B.Sc. Forestry Degree in view of the difference in duration.”

The Board thereafter discussed the matter in its meeting held on 16.11.2007 and unilaterally decided to reduce five points from the earlier notified criteria as regards the candidates possessing a three year bachelor’s degree in Forestry. The revised criteria as approved and adopted in the selection was thus:—

B.Sc Forestry (four years Professional Degree) : 25 points.

B.Sc. Forestry (three years Academic Degree) : 20 points.

It needs to be pointed out that the aforementioned clarification was given by the Forest Department after the matter had been taken up with the Association of Indian Universities.

7. In the select list prepared pursuant to the adoption of the revised criteria, the petitioners failed to make up the merit. Two petitions, therefore, were filed challenging the selection of the private respondents.

SWP No. 2136/2007.

8. In Sudesh Kumar & Ors. vs. State of J&K & Ors., the challenge is that the criteria for selection having been fixed once and resorted to could not have been subsequently changed mid way. Reliance was placed upon K. Manjusree vs. State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr., (2008) 3 SCC 512 and Bishnu Biswas & ors vs. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 774.

SWP No. 2163/2007

9. In Naveen Gupta Vs. State of J&K & Ors., the petitioner’s challenge is limited to the extent that 25 marks prescribed for B.Sc Forestry were excessive and that more weightage ought to have been prescribed in