JUDGMENT :

NAMIT KUMAR, J.

1. Instant writ petition has been filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of certiorari for setting aside the order dated 20.11.2025 (Annexure P-1), passed by respondent No.2, whereby claim of the petitioner for appointment as Up-Vaid has been rejected. Further prayer has been made for directing the respondents to consider the claim of the petitioner and appoint him as Up-Vaid.

2. Brief facts of the case, as pleaded in the petition, are that the petitioner belongs to Scheduled Caste category. After 10+2, he obtained Diploma in Upvaid (Ayurvedic) from Punjab State Faculty of Ayurvedic and Unani Systems of Medicine, Patiala, in the year 2008, securing 59% marks. Thereafter, he completed his internship training at G.A.D. Boparai Kalan, District Ludhiana, from 20.01.2009 to 02.05.2009. The Registrar, Board of Ayurvedic and Unani Systems of Medicine, Punjab, issued registration certificate of Ayurvedic Up-Vaid dated 04.06.2015 (Annexure P-3) to the petitioner, which is valid upto 31.12.2030. In November, 2009, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, invited online applications for filling up various posts, including 192 posts of Up-Vaidya, upto 23.11.2009 till 5.00 p.m. As the petitioner fulfilled all the prescribed eligibility conditions, therefore, he applied for the said post. In the examination conducted for the said post, out of 100 marks petitioner secured 25 marks. As per information received through RTI, petitioner was shown at Sr. No.66 in the merit list. Accordingly, he was called for counselling for the post of Up- Vaidya under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) Scheme by the department vide letter dated 12.11.2010 (Annexure P-5) in the office of Directorate of Ayurveda, Punjab. Out of total 192 posts, 48 posts were reserved for SC category candidates. However, one Sandeep Singh, who had secured only 19 marks in the examination, was appointed under the SC (R&O) category, whereas petitioner, who had secured 25 marks, was not appointed. Due to the alleged pick and choose policy adopted by the department, similarly situated candidates, namely, Bhupinderjit Kaur, Harjinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Gurjant Singh, filed a writ petition bearing CWP No.11294 of 2013 – Bhupinderjit Kaur and others v. State of Punjab and others, which was allowed vide order dated 27.03.2019 (Annexure P-9) and the respondents were directed to offer appointments to the petitioners (therein) against available vacancies. Similarly, respondent No.5- Baljeet Kaur, belonging to SC category, who had secured 25 marks in the examination but was not initially selected, approached this Court by filing CWP No.28060 of 2013 – Baljeet Kaur v. State of Punjab and others. During the pendency of the said writ petition, respondent No.5 was issued appointment letter dated 27.05.2022 (Annexure P-11) and subsequently joined her duties. In view of the said development, the writ petition was disposed of by this Court vide order dated 15.09.2022 (Annexure P-10), granting liberty to respondent No.5 to raise her claim regarding ancillary benefits at an appropriate stage along with other similarly situated candidates. As per information received through RTI, name of the petitioner was placed at Sr. No.3 in the waiting list whereas respondent No.5 was placed at Sr. No.2 in the said list and it has further been revealed through RTI that eights posts of Up-Vaidya are still lying vacant with the department. Thereafter, petitioner served a legal notice dated 16.07.2025 (Annexure P-13) upon the respondents to count the selection of meritorious Scheduled Castes category candidates under the general category and to consider the claim of the petitioner against the seats kept for Scheduled Caste category. As no response to the said legal notice was received, the petitioner was constrained to file CWP No.27501 of 2025, which was disposed of by this Court vide order dated 16.09.2025 (Annexure P-14) with a d