By the Court.—We have heard Sri Ashok Khare, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Sri Vishnu Shankar Gupta for the Appellants, learned standing counsel appearing for State and Sri Yashwant Verma, learned counsel appearing for the High Court.

2. In all the above Special Appeals common question of law and facts are involved which relate to the legality of the selection of the class IVth employees in the Civil Court, Muzaffar Nagar. Therefore, all the above Special Appeals are being disposed of by the common judgment.

3. The challenge in the aforesaid appeals is to the judgment and order dated 10.07.2006 passed by Hon’be Arun Tandon, J. in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 38895 of 2004, A.K. Chaterjee v. Registrar General, High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and another, in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 32111 of 2004, Jagdish Chandra and 2 others v. State of U.P. and 2 others, in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 23795 of 2004, Mohd. Ausaf Ahmad Ansari and 20 others v. State of U.P. and 2 others and in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 39960 of 2004, Bablu Choudhary v. Registrar General, High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and 2 others, respectively by which the learned Single Judge has dismissed the aforesaid writ petitions filed by the petitioners-appellants.

4. The relevant facts giving rise to the present Special Appeals may in nutshell be stated as under :

The aforesaid Civil Misc. Writ Petitions related to the termination of the services of the petitioners-appellants who were appointed by the then District Judge, Sri M.A. Khan who later on elevated to the Bench (Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.A. Khan) as Class IVth employee in the Civil Court, Muzaffar Nagar. The then District Judge in June 1998 initiated process for recruitment of class IVth employees as Process Servers, Orderely, Peons and Farrash in the Civil Court, Muzaffar Nagar in accordance with the Rules provided in the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Civil Courts Inferior Establishment Rules, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). He accordingly advertised the vacancies in the newspaper calling the applications by 15.6.1998 from the willing candidates to be appointed as Process Servers, Orderely, Peons and Farrash. The scheduled date of examination was fixed as 27.6.1998. The selection process included written examination as well as interview. As many as 461 candidates applied for the above posts, however only 327 candidates out of 461 candidates turned up and appeared in the written test. The District Judge thereafter on the basis of written test and interview prepared a select list of 39 candidates. The candidate from Serial No. 1 to 18 of the select list were given appointment by the then District Judge, Sri M.A. Khan. Thereafter candidates from Serial No. 21 to 28 of select list were given appointment by the subsequent Judge, Sri R.C. Pandey who too later on elevated to the Bench (Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.C. Pandey) The candidates are Serial No. 19 and 20 were found to be overage. The select list from Serial No. 29 and onward was cancelled by Sri R.C. Pandey.

5. A number of complaints were sent to the High Court regarding unfair selection of the candidates in the above examination. The High Court, prima facie, found that the appointment of the candidates were made by the District Judge in unfair manner and without following proper procedure provided under the Rules. Consequently, the High Court vide its letter No. 6753/VIIb-104 Admn “D” Section: dated 6.5.2004 directed the then District Judge, Muzaffar Nagar to inquire into the matter and cancel the examination if the selection of candidates were found to be unfair and illegal. Consequently, Sri N.L. Saxena, the then District Judge, Muzaffar Nagar inquired into the matter in great detail and found that the following irregularities were committed by the then District Judge in preparation of the select list :

(i) (a) The applications received from the candidates were not properly indexed: nor were complete.

(b) The applicatio