JUDGMENT :

NAMIT KUMAR, J.

1. By way of this judgment, aforementioned 24 writ petitions are being disposed of as common questions of law and facts are involved therein. For the sake of brevity, facts are being taken from CWP No.311 of 2018 titled as Satwinder Singh v. State of Punjab and others.

2. Instant writ petition has been filed by the petitioner under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of certiorari for quashing the result of general category candidates as well as backward class category for the post of Clerks (Annexure P-6). Further prayer has been made for directing the respondents to appoint the candidates of backward class under general category, who have attained more marks than the last selected general category candidates, and appointment of respondents No.3 and 4 be quashed and the petitioner be appointed against the said posts as petitioner is having higher merit than respondents No.3 and 4.

3. Brief facts of the case are that respondent No.2- Subordinate Services Selection Board, Punjab, issued Advertisement No.02/2013, inviting online applications for recruitment to 1192 posts of Clerks in different departments under Punjab Government