By the Court.—Both the above petitions raise common question of law and similar facts as such have been taken up together. They also relate to the same examination conducted by the same examining body as such also it is convenient to deal with both the petitions by this common order.

2. Facts in brief relating to Writ-A No. 12344 of 2017, (Niraj Kumar Singh v. State of U.P. and two others) are as follows :

The U.P. Higher Education Service Commission (in short referred to as the “Commission”) respondent No. 3 published an Advertisement No. 46 dated 19.3.2014 inviting applications for the post of Lecturers in different subjects for different aided Degree/Post-graduate Colleges in the State of U.P. The advertisement has been filed as Annexure No. 1 to the writ petition. The petitioner applied against the said advertisement under the General Category for the post of Lecturer in Geography. The written examination was scheduled for 22nd March, 2015. The petitioner appeared in the examination and was allotted Question Booklet Series-(B) for the subject of Geography. The answer key was uploaded by the University and objections were invited to the same. The petitioner submitted objections against two questions namely question Nos. 4 and 63. Question No. 4 related to General Knowledge whereas question No. 63 related to the subject i.e. Geography. It would be worthwhile to mention here that the questions of General Knowledge were same for all the subjects whereas subject questions were different for each subject. Before us the petitioner has pressed only insofar as his objection to question No. 4 is concerned, which related to General Knowledge and it was common for all subjects. Question No. 4 reads as follows :

Q.4. Who is the brand ambassador of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) ?

(a) Abhishek Bachchan.

(b) Amitabh Bachchan.

(c) Deepika Padukone.

(d) None of the above.

3. According to the petitioner on the date of the examination i.e. 22nd March, 2015, the correct answer was none of the above option-(d). According to the Commission the correct answer was Deepika Padukone option-(c).

4. According to the petitioner earlier Deepika Padukone [option-(c)] had been engaged as Brand Ambassador of B.S.N.L. on 17th August, 2008 for a period of one year and thereafter it was Dayanidhi Maran who had been signed by the B.S.N.L. as its Brand Ambassador w.e.f. 24.1.2015. Thus, according to the petitioner on the date of examination i.e. 22nd March, 2015 it was Dayanidhi Maran who was the Brand Ambassador of B.S.N.L. and since Dayanidhi Maran was not named as an option, the correct answer would be none of the above-option-(d).

5. According to the petitioner he had given the correct answer i.e. option-(d) i.e. none of the above as such he would be entitled to two marks having attempted the correct answer. The objection of the petitioner apparently was not accepted. He qualified the written test and was called for interview. The final result of the successful candidates was declared on 8th February, 2017 in which the petitioner was not shown as a selected candidate in the select list and he was placed at Serial No. 3 in the waiting list.

6. According to the petitioner he has obtained 0.5 marks less than the last selected candidate in the General Category and as such, if he is allotted two marks for the correct answer of question No. 4, he would fall in the select list.

7. Facts in brief relating to Writ-A No. 9069 of 2017, (Ratan Kumar Patel v. State of U.P. and 10 others) are as follows :

The petitioner had applied for the post of Lecturer in Law under the category of Other Backward Class. He was given Series-A booklet. This petitioner had raised an objection with regard to question No. 94 which is of the subject i.e. Law. The question reads as follows :

Q.94. The sexual intercourse by a man with a woman with her consent would not be rape, if she has attained the age of :

(a) 15 years.

(b) 16 years.

(c) 17 years.

(d) 18 years.

8. According