Surya Kant, J.

1. Whether the allegations of fraud in public employment centrestaged on the "procedure and mechanism" adopted by the State of Punjab in the wholesome selection of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from "Outstanding Sports Persons", can be a subject matter of public interest litigation or not and whether this Court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India can entertain such public interest litigation, even if it is found to be a probono publico to prevent and remedy the abuse and misuse of executive powers by the State apparatus, or it shall amount to mere adjudication of "competing claims" between two sets of parties with no element of larger public interest involved ? are some of the vital issues to which this larger Bench is confronted with. The other related issues pertaining to the legality and propriety of these selections have also been raised in certain individual writ petitions which we propose to dispose of along with the public interest litigation.

2. Two Civil Writ Petitions bearing CWP No. 2527 of 2004 and 3384 of 2004, dubbed as Public Interest Litigation, have been filed by Sarvshri Jaskaran Singh