( 1 ) THE petitioner has challenged the appointment of the respondent No. 5, namely, Smt. Gita Dhar Nee Bamjai, as a Lecturer in the Department of journalism Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University. The main ground of attack is that the aforesaid respondent did not possess the minimum qualification for the post of Lecturer as per advertisement whereas the petitioner fulfilled these qualifications and if he had known that appointment would be made even without insisting on the fulfilment of these qualifications, he would have also applied for the post and taken his chance. Admittedly the petitioner was not an applicant in the field. He has, however, chosen to challenge the appointment of respondent No. 5 on the ground that if he (petitioner) had applied, he would have had good chance of being selected, and at all events the appointment of the respondent No. 5 who did not possess the required qualification, was apparently illegal.

( 2 ) A preliminary question arose as to whether the petitioner had any "locus standi" to file the present writ petition. It is true that public interest litigation has come to stay as one of the species of litigation in which redress may