Point of Law : Undoubtedly, provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure are not applicable in writ jurisdiction by virtue of the provision of Section 141 of the Code of Civil Procedure but the principles enshrined therein are applicable.

JUDGMENT :

J.J. Munir, J.

These are a bunch of 147 writ petitions, where the petitioners, who are all candidates appearing in the Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination, 2019, have made it common cause to assail the result of the selection and consequent appointment of the luckier amongst them on ground that the answer key published on 08.05.2020 is patently flawed. There is much variety to the manner and the extent these petitioners want the Court to scrutinize the recruitment examination, but in substance, all of them say that they have been evaluated on the basis of a flawed answer key that has led to an actionable aberration in the result. All the writ petitions, despite the variety and the extent of relief claimed, raise common questions of fact and law and are, therefore, being decided by means of this common judgment and orders. The writ petition preferred by Rishabh Mishra and others, being Service Single No.8056 of 2020, has been heard as the leading case along with all the other connected writ petitions and is being decided as such.

2. Heard Dr. Lalta Prasad Mishra along with Mr. Amit Kumar Bhadauria, Mr. Sudeep Seth, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Avdhesh Shukla, Mr. Onkar Singh, Mr. Jitendra Bahadur, Mr. Anash Sherwani holding brief of Mr. Amrendra Nath Tripathi, Mr. Alok Kr. Misra, Mr. I.M. Pandey Ist, Mr. Rudra Kumar Tiwari, Mr. Avinash Pandey, Mr. Ram Singh, Mr. Arun Kumar Verma, Mr. Rajeiu Kumar Tripathi, Mr. Farooqahmad, Mr. Raj Priya Srivastava, Mr. Srideep Chatterjee, Mr. Prakhar Misra, Mr. Rajeev Narayan Pandey, Mr. Deepak Singh, Mr. Arvind Kumar Tiwari, Mr. Suyesh Pradhan, Mr. Nitin Kumar Mishra, Mr. Arun Kumar Mishra, Mr. Dileep Kumar Tiwari, Mr. Rakesh Kumar Singh, Mr. Anil Kumar Maurya, Mr. Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Mr. Shitla Prasad Tripathi, Mr. Saurabh Shukla, Mr. Om Chandra Sahu, Mr. Piyush Kumar Giri, learned Counsel for the petitioners in different writ petitions. Mr. Raghvendra Singh, the learned Advocate General assisted by Mr. Ran Vijay Singh, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel has been heard on behalf of the State and Mr. Ajay Kumar, learned Counsel appearing for the U.P. Basic Education Board in the leading case, has also been heard.

3. The State of Uttar Pradesh on 9th of November, 2017 amended the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education (Teachers) Service Rules, 1981, for short, 'the Rules of 1981'. The said amendment to the Rules was called the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board (Teachers) Service (Twentieth Amendment) Rules, 2017, for short, ‘the Twentieth Amendment’. By the Twentieth Amendment, changes were introduced to Rule 2(1) and Rule 8 of the Rules of 1981. The ‘Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination’ was introduced vide clause (w), the 'Qualifying Marks of Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination' were provided for vide clause (x) and the 'Guidelines of Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination' were envisaged under clause (y). These clauses (w), (x) and (y) were added to Rule 2(1) of the Rules of 1981. Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment, the Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination, 2018 was held, where 68,500 posts were advertised. The selection and recruitment process ran its full course and ended on 05.10.2018 with the appointment of 41,556 selected candidates. There is no issue about that selection here.

4. The next process of selection under the Rules of 1981, as amended by the Twentieth Amendment, was initiated on 01.12.2018. On occasion, the State Government issued fresh guidelines carried in the Government Order of 1st December, 2018. The recruitment process that commenced in terms of the Government Order dated 1st December, 2018 is called Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination, 2019, for short, 'the Recruitment Examination of 2019'. Under the Recruitment Examination of 2019, 69,000 posts of Assistant Teaches were advertised. It is this recruitment, that i