H.L. Gokhale, J.

This writ petition raises the question as to whether the reservation of 30% of posts provided for the women under the Tamil Nadu State and Subordinate Services Rules is a constitutionally valid reservation.

2. The facts leading to this writ petition are as follows:

The petitioner has the degree in Law and he desired to enter the government service as a Group - I officer in the State of Tamil Nadu. At the time of filing the writ petition in April 2008 he was 32 years of age. He claims to belong to a community, which has been classified amongst the Most Backward Communities. On first August, 2007 Advertisement No.120 was published by the 2nd respondent - Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission in Tamil News Paper ‘Dina Thanthi’ for various posts. The notification provided 30% reservation for women for various posts by laying down 30% reservation horizontally amongst all the communities. The petitioner wrote the preliminary examination and secured 213 marks. As far as the main examination is concerned the cut off marks were published on the website of the 2nd respondent for various categories and for the Most Backward Communities the cut off marks for men wer