ORDER :

Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, J.

1. The petitioners in all the writ petitions are candidates of the Backward Class Category claiming relaxation in age at par with the candidates of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes, which stands at 48 years, on the ground that they also belong to the reserved category of candidates and, therefore, any denial of age relaxation to them would amount to invidious discrimination by not extending a benefit which otherwise ought to have been also given to the petitioners herein. Their contention is that this is not based on any rationale and there are no reasons available, more so in view of the fact that the respondents had extended this benefit in the previous notification dated 13.1.2019, but for the same vacancies and for the same selections, the fresh impugned notification dated 12.12.2019 omits the said benefit. The affidavit of the State Government as well as the High Court nowhere discloses any rational basis and there being no intelligible differentia decipherable, the said benefit should be extended to the petitioners herein as they also belong to the weaker section of the Backward Class Category. This they say is in order to allow a concession enabling the reserved category Backward Class candidates to attain the objective of getting suitable representation, inasmuch as relaxation in age is a tool to fulfill the aim of reservation and denying the said benefit, therefore, is against the constitutional mandates for the reserved category.

2. The second argument emphasizes on the fact that the vacancies for which such relaxation is being claimed relate to the year 2013, when the last selections were held. These selections were inordinately delayed for almost six years and commenced in the year 2019. This long lapse of time, therefore, deprived the petitioners of their opportunity to avail the benefits as candidates in the said selection process and, therefore, by placing heavy reliance on a Division Bench judgment of the Jharkhand High Court in Bhola Nath Rajak and others v. The State of Jharkhand and others, (2014) 2 AIR Jhar R 638, it is urged that in order to remedy this unjust deprivation, a relaxation over and above the maximum age should be otherwise prescribed to enable the petitioners to undertake the fresh examinations and selection process of District Judge (Entry Level).

3. It is submitted that the petitioners had a right to apply and appear in the recruitment process, which rights have been taken away in spite of the fact that they were eligible, but a delay and then the subsequent change in the stand of the respondents has brought about this unjust situation.

4. It is further submitted that age relaxation for recruitment to the other posts of the Subordinate Judiciary is available to the Backward Class candidates, but there is no rationale behind non providing of this relaxation to the candidates who are seeking to participate in the selection process for the post of the District Judge (Entry Level). In the absence of any distinctive rational for the said purpose, there cannot be any justification for not providing any such relaxation to the petitioners.

5. It is also submitted that relaxation in marks has been given, but there is no reason as to why relaxation in age cannot be afforded to the petitioners in order to fulfill the object of reservation.

6. One more fact deserves to be taken notice of, that is against the notification issued on 13.1.2019, no single candidate could be selected and, therefore, in this peculiar situation also a fresh opportunity by providing relaxation, more particularly in the case of reserved category candidates, should be extended.

7. One of the other arguments that has been advanced is that a number of vacancies for which the selections were to be held arose prior to the amendment which is under challenge and the eligibility of age should always be construed with reference to the year of vacancy. Learned counsel advancing this submission, apart from rely