The main legal point established is that the de-reservation of posts for sports persons and ex-servicemen should be based on the rules regarding the advertisement and filling of vacancies, and amendments to the rules may not apply to ongoing selection processes.

JUDGMENT

Raibir Sehrawat, J. (Oral). - This order shall dispose of four writ petitions, i.e. CWP No.2081 of 2020, CWP No.15305 of 2020, CWP No.4311 of 2020 and CWP No.7203 of 2020.

2. The prayers made in all these writ petitions are for de-reservation of the posts of Sports Category advertised vide advertisement dated 06.10.2016 qua the post of Ayurvedic Medical Officers and posts of Clerks in sports persons category and ex-serviceman category advertised vide advertisement No.04 of 2016 dated 01/27.09.2016 and to fill up the said de-reserved post from the candidates belonging to the General Category in accordance with their merits.

3. The brief facts, as are involved in these writ petitions are that the respondent No.3 in CWP No.2081 of 2020 issued an advertisement dated 06.10.2016 inviting application for direct recruitment to 118 posts of Ayurvedic Medical Officers. In the said advertisement, 56 posts were advertised for General Category and 8 posts were reserved for Sports Persons, Punjab Category. After the selection, the merit list was published by selecting agency and the petitioner was placed at Sr. No.56 in General Category candidates. However, since certain persons belonging to the other categories had secured more marks than the petitioner, and thus they were shifted to the General Category, therefore, the petitioner could not come up to the last cut-off merit. Same is the situation claimed by the petitioners in CWP No.15305 of 2020. In case of CWP No.4311 of 2020 and CWPNo.7203 of 2020, the respondent No.l had advertised 1883 posts of Clerks on 27.09.2016. In the said advertisement, 766 posts were advertised for General Category, 79 posts were advertised for Sports Person, Punjab Category and 377 posts were advertised for ex-serviceman category. The result of the said selection was declared on 27.05.2019. In that selection also, 20 posts belonging to the Sports Persons Category and 183 posts from ESM Category remained unfilled. The petitioners in these two writ petitions claimed to have qualified the written exam but could not make the grade upto the last cut-off marks in General Category.

4. The common and only claim of the petitioners in these writ petitions, and which are argued by the counsels for the petitioners are that the State of Punjab had framed rules called Punjab Recruitment of Sports Person Rules, 1988 (for short, the 1988 Rules') and the rules called Punjab Recruitment of Ex-Servicemen Rules, 1982 (for short, the 1982 Rules'). Those rules prescribe that if the vacancies for the category of sports persons and ex-servicemen have been advertised twice, then the said post shall be de-reserved and transferred to the General Category. In the present cases, since no sports person has been selected and posts meant for ESM Category had remained unfilled during the previous recruitments, therefore, the post should have been de-reserved in the present recruitment and the petitioners should have been offered the appointment as per their merit determined by the selecting agency.

5. The State has filed written statements in these cases.

6. In cases of CWP No.2081 of 2020 and CWP No. 15305 of 2020, the State has not disputed the fact that the post of Ayurvedic Medical Officers meant for the sports persons were earlier earlier advertised twice and no selections were made in this category in selections made in two years pursuant to those two advertisements. In the other two writ petitions, namely, CWP No.4311 of 2020 and CWP No.7203 of 2020, the State has contested the claim of the petitioners and has asserted that these posts were not even advertised twice earlier, before the current advertisement. Hence, it is submitted that qua the posts of Clerks, the posts meant for ex-servicemen and the sports persons are not to be de-reserved under the 1982 Rules.

7. For ready reference, it is pertinent to have the rule regarding reservation as provided under both the above-said Rules, which are reproduced as under:-

"The 1988 Rules (A