The main legal point established in the judgment is the applicability of the U. P. Reservation Act, 1994 to the posts of Principals in Government aided private colleges and the validity of the methodology adopted by the U. P. Higher Education Services Commission for screening out candidates.

( 1 ) BOTTOM-LINE common questions of seminal importance that surface of determination in this bunch of writ petitions are two fold : firstly, whether the posts of Principal in Government Aided private Degree Colleges/post Graduate Colleges affiliated or associated under the provisions of the U. P. State Universities Act. 1973, can be subsumed within the sweep of the U. P. Public services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes)Act, 1994 (abbreviated to u. P. Reservation Act. 1994) and secondly, whether methodology adopted by the U. P. Higher Education Services Commission for screening out candidates, suffers from the taint of arbitrariness.

( 2 ) THE reliefs recapitulated in substance, arc that the advertisement No. 25 of 1998, the selections made pursuant to the said advertisement, and the guidelines formulated by the U. P. Higher education Services Commission, be quashed and the Commission be enjoined to re-advertise the posts sans applying there the rule of reservation as embodied in the U. P, Reservation Act. 1994 and prepare fresh guidelines for screening out the candidates taking into reckoning the qualifications as amended by the University Grants Commission.

( 3 ) BESIDES Sri R. B. Singhal and Sri R,c. Shukla, we have also heard Sarvsri R. C. Srivastava, r. N. Singh and Sri Ashok Khare, learned Senior Advocates appearing for petitioners in their respective cases and Sri Kripa Shanker Singh, standing counsel appearing for the State authorities. Sri H. R. Misra, standing counsel appearing for Higher Education Services commission, and Sri Manish Goel appearing for the private respondents in one of these writ petitions. In re-application of the U. P. Reservation ACC. 1994

( 4 ) IT has been canvassed by the counsel appearing for the petitioners that there is only one post of principal in each college and therefore, application of the rule of reservation to the single post cadre, would be permitting 100% reservation which will be over-reaching the doctrine of equality as engrafted in clauses (1) and (2) of Article 16 of the Constitution. To enforce the contention that there could be no reservation in relation to a single post cadre, credence has been placed mainly on Chakradhar Paswan (Dr.) v. State of Bihar. 1998 (2) SCC 214 ; Bhinde Girls education Society v. Education Officer, 1993 Suppl. (3) SCC 527 ; Post Graduate Institute of medical Education and Research v. Faculty Association, 1998 (4) SCC 1. For the respondents, it has been canvassed that the expression public Services and Posts as defined in Section 2 (c) (iv)of the U. P. Reservation Act, 1994 includes posts of Principals of Degree Colleges/post Graduate colleges affiliated or associated to any State University under the provisions of the U. P. State universities Act. 1973. Being services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State, disparate colleges cannot be treated as a conjoint unit so as to make the post of Principal as a single post cadre. Various provisions embodied in the U. P. Higher Education Services commission Act. 1980 and the U. P. Higher Education Services Commission Regulations, 1983, have also been called in aid by the learned counsel for the respondents to give prop to the contention that vacancies on the posts of Principals notified to the Commission under Section 12 of the U. P. Higher Education Services Commission Act, 1980 read with the U. P. Higher education Services Commission (Procedure for Selection of Teachers) Regulations, 1983, ought to be read in juxtaposition for the purposes of applying the U. P. Reservation Act, 1994.

( 5 ) FOR proper appraisal of the contentions raised at the bar, we consider it necessary to refer to the provisions of the U. P. Act 4 of 1994 and the related provisions contained in the U. P. Higher education Services Commission Act. 1980. The U. P. Reservation Act, 1994, has been enacted to provide for the reservation in public services and posts in