JUDGMENT

R.L. Gulati, J. - This is a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution by four petitioners. All of them are Executive Engineers in the Irrigation Department of the Public Works Division of Uttar Pradesh. The petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 passed out from the University of Roorkee in the years 1951 and occupied the first two places in order of merit in the list of successful candidates. Similarly, the petitioner Nos. 3 and 4 passed from the Roorkee University in the year 1952 and they occupied the third and 4th places in the merit list of the successful candidates of that year. According to the practice then prevailing all the four petitioners were entitled to be appointed to the posts which were called the "guaranteed posts". Guaranteed posts were posts reserved for candidates passing out of the Roorkee University and occupying the first four places in the merit list. Thus the petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 were appointed as Assistant Engineers on December 24, 1952 and January 1, 1953 respectively. Similarly, the petitioner Nos. 3 and 4 were appointed as Assistant Engineers on November 3, 1953 and November 5, 1953 respectively. The appointments of the petitioners were temporary. The pet