JUDGMENT :

OSWAL, J.

1. The writ petition preferred by the appellants bearing SWP No. 924/2018, whereby they had challenged Notification dated 28.10.2017 for cancelling Advertisement Notification No. Ed/715/GNR dated 10.02.2016, came to be dismissed in terms of judgment dated 07.03.2024.

2. The appellants in person have filed this intra-court appeal thereby assailing the judgment dated 07.03.2024 rendered by the learned writ Court on the ground that the learned writ Court has not examined the issue of parity as in the similar Advertisement, some candidates were selected and they were even permitted to join by the respondents. It is also contended that appellant No.1 was asked to submit his Computer Literacy Certificate, which he did. Thereafter, his verification was also conducted by the CID of J&K Police, and he was cleared by the CID Agency, but while appellant No. 1 was awaiting the issuance of the appointment order, the respondents, without any rhyme or reason, proceeded to cancel the Notification pursuant to which they had applied for the post of Gramin Dak Sewak, which the appellants came to know through reply dated 05.04.2018 in response to the legal notice served upon the respondents. It is also urged that no reason has been mentioned in the communication dated 01.08.2016 that necessitated the cancellation of the selection of all types of Gramin Dak Sewaks. Besides, it is also contended that in the same selection list, the respondents permitted one Vijay Singh to join, for the reasons best known to them and on the contrary denied the appointment to the appellants.

3. During the pendency of this appeal, the co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 08.04.2025 directed the respondents to file a short affidavit indicating the following:

(i) What is the status of selection process in question which was stopped in terms of communication of Assistant Director General (GDS), Ministry of Communication and IT Department of Posts dated 01.08.2016?

(ii) Whether any formal decision on the proposal for making online selection of Grameen Dak Sevaks was taken by the competent authority, more particularly, when we are shown advertisement notification issued on 05.06.2018 inviting applications for filling up the vacant posts of Gramin Dak Sevaks without adopting online mode?

(iii) What is the present status of the posts of GDS BPM, Branch Office Nanga and GDS BPM, Branch Office Kotli Mian Fateh?

4. In response to the said affidavit, the respondents stated that all engagement cases where the selection was underway, but not finalized, were cancelled. Subsequently, permission to conduct the selection process manually in the Jammu & Kashmir Circle was granted vide Postal Directorate letter No. 17-23/2016-GDS dated 27.10.2017, issued by ADG (GDS) and subsequently, vide letter No.ED/8-225/GDS Recruitment dated 08.11.2017 was issued to all the Postal Divisions in Jammu & Kashmir Circle requesting them to manually process the engagement/selection of Gramin Dak Sevaks of all categories. It was also stated that the posts of GDS Branch Postmaster at Nanga Branch Office and Kotli Mian Fateh Branch Office were notified under GDS Online Engagement Cycle-II/2019-2020 vide Notification No. ED/8-225/GDS RECTT./II.

5. In response to the affidavit filed by the respondents, the appellants submitted that their original documents had been retained by the respondents, on account of which they were prevented from applying afresh. The appellants have also adverted to various factual aspects of the case, which may be taken note of, as and when required.

6. An application bearing CM No. 6997/2024 has been filed by the appellants to place on record the advertisement notice dated 05.06.2018 whereby the respondents have received the application forms from the eligible candidates for the post of Gramin Dak Sevaks mail carrier to assert that the process was initiated on off-line/online basis. Thereafter, another CMP No. 4940/2025 has been filed by the appellants whereby