ORDER

Date : 13-05-2022 Heard Mr. P.P. Dutta, learned counsel for the petitioner in WP(C) No. 5810/2017 and Mr. A.C. Sarma, learned counsel for the petitioner in WP(C) No. 1631/2021. Mr. P. Nayak, learned counsel appears for the Finance Department. Mr. M. Dutta, learned counsel appears for the respondent Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8 & 9 in WP(C) No. 5810/2017 and respondent Nos. 7, 8 & 9 in WP(C) No. 1631/2021.

2. As the issue raised in WP(C) No. 5810/2017 and WP(C) No. 1631/2021 are similar, the two writ petitions are being disposed of by a common judgment & order.

3. The facts of the case in WP(C) No. 5810/2017 and WP(C) No. 1631/2021 is that pursuant to an Advertisement dated 29.05.2017, for filling up 63 vacant posts of Assistant Audit Officer under the Directorate of Audit (Local Fund), Assam, the petitioners participated in the selection process. It is the case of the petitioners that as many as 7 OBC candidates, who ought to have been appointed against the general/unreserved category posts on merit, have been appointed against the vacant posts reserved for OBC candidates. As such, the petitioners, who were OBC candidates, were not appointed to posts reserved for the OBC/MOBC category.

4. The