1. This judgment would dispose of three writ petitions, that is, C. W. 2437 of 1970, C.W. 2149 of 1972 and C. W. 2174 of 1972 as common question of law arises in them. Civil Writ No. 2098 of 1970 filed by Miss Asha also involved a similar question but that has been dismissed as withdrawn, Initially that writ petition came up for hearing before B. R. Tuli J. (as he then was) and the same was referred by the learned Judge for decision to a larger Bench considering the importance of the question of law involved. Thereafter, the other three writ petitions were also ordered to be heard along with Civil Writ No. 2098 of 1970 as the point involved in those petitions was the same as in Civil Writ No. 2098 of 1970.

2. In all these petitions the main point that requires determination is whether reservation of vacancies for Ex-Armed Forces Personnel is constitutionally valid or not. In order to decide the merits of the controversy, it would be useful to notice certain salient features which I am narrating from the amended writ petition filed by Dr. (Miss) Jasbir Gill (Civil Writ No. 2437 of 1970) which read as under:

The petitioner is a member of the Scheduled Castes. After her gradua