JUDGMENT

Anil Kshetarpal, J.

A batch of 18 connected writ petitions (details whereof are given at the foot of the judgment) has come up for final disposal. The learned counsel representing the parties have conceded that the issue is common in all the writ petitions and therefore, the Court can conveniently dispose of these writ petitions by a common judgment.

2. Once again, the issue of the candidates possessing higher qualifications than those specified in the recruitment notice is before the Court. The relevant facts, in brief, are required to be noticed in order to grasp the core issues involved in the case, which require adjudication.

3. The Department of Irrigation, Punjab, issued a recruitment notice inviting applications for recruiting 296 posts of the Junior Engineer (Civil) available in the Department. In the recruitment notice under the clause of educational qualifications, it was provided as under:-

Note- Candidate himself will be responsible for his eligibility in accordance with the minimum qualifications provided above."

4. Clause 11 of the instructions/important information of the recruitment notice reads as under:-

"11. No extra weightage shall be admissible to the Applicants possessing higher qualification or experience."

5. In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Punjab has notified the Punjab Public Works Department (Irrigation Branch) (Junior Engineer Group B) Service Rules, 2011 (hereinafter for short 'the 2011 Rules'). For the direct recruitment, the column (vi) of the Appendix B prescribes the qualification for direct appointment, which reads as under:-

6. The petitioners herein are degree holders in the various streams of Engineering, however, they do not possess diploma in Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. Under the heading 'Mode of Selection', the recruitment notice reads as under:-

"Mode of Selection

a) Written test will contain 100 multiple choice questions of one mark each. The paper will be of 120 minutes duration.

b) Minimum qualifying marks will be 25% of total marks of examination. There will be negative marking (1/4th marks shall be deducted for every wrong answer). Selection will be purely based on merit in the entrance exam subject to