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HARPREET SINGH BRAR, J. (Oral)

1. The present petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing of impugned order dated 03.01.2024 (Annexure P-9) passed by the respondents whereby the claim of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) has arbitrarily been rejected and for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to issue appointment letter to the petitioner who is next in the line for appointment towards post of Junior Engineer (Civil) as the candidate above the petitioner has failed to join the post and petitioner being next in the merit is liable to be considered for appointment and further directing the respondents to keep one post reserved for the petitioner during the pendency of the present petition and not to re-advertise the same.

CONTENTIONS

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner, inter alia, contends that in pursuance to the advertisement (Annexure P-1), 15 posts of General category were advertised and out of those 15 posts, 02 posts were reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category (one post was unreserved w