JUDGMENT

Altamas Kabir, J.

1. These three Special Leave Petitions are directed against the judgment and order dated 12.7.2011, passed by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in C.P. No.2209 of 2009, affirming the order of the learned Single Judge which had been upheld by the Division Bench of the High Court regarding the appointment of Pharmacists in the State of Uttar Pradesh. So as to understand how the matter reached the High Court, it is necessary to set out a few facts which led to the filing of the Writ Petitions.

2. By way of an advertisement dated 12.11.2007, 766 vacancies were advertised for being filled up by diploma holders in Pharmacy. The advertisement provided that the recruitment could be done as per the U.P. Procedure for Direct Recruitment of Group ‘C’ Posts (Outside the Purview of Public Service Commission) Rules, 2000. The said advertisement led to controversies as to how the appointments were to be filled up.

3. According to the Respondents, the interpretation of Rule 15(2) of the U.P. Pharmacists Service Rules, 1980, hereinafter referred to as the “1980 Rules”, required the diploma holders to be appointed against the vacancies which became available in each recruitment year, by first appointing those Pharmacists who had obtained their diplomas earlier. It was their claim that appointment to the post of Pharmacist could be made batch-wise from each year and that the vacancies which had accrued were required to be filled up by giving appointment to those Pharmacists according to the dates on which they obtained their diplomas, irrespective of their merit. According to the Respondents, on an interpretation of Rule 15(2) of the 1980 Rules by the State Government, they were entitled to be selected and appointed first in respect of the vacancies advertised, as they belonged to previous batches and had been denied appointment by the State Government earlier on the plea that notwithstanding their merit being superior to some of the diploma holders, those who had obtained diplomas prior to the Respondents, had to be adjusted against the vacancies first, irrespective of their merit. It was submitted that those diploma holders who had obtained their diplomas before the Respondents, should be adjusted first against the vacancies available, irrespective of their merit, vis-`-vis the diploma holders of subsequent batches and the said practice was continued till 2002.

4. Questioning the interpretation of Rule 15(2) of the 1980 Rules, several Writ Petitions were filed before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court for quashing the advertisement dated 12.11.2007 and for a writ in the nature of Mandamus to command the concerned authorities to effect recruitment to the post of Pharmacist strictly in accordance with Rules 14 and 15 of the 1980 Rules, by specifying the vacancies year-wise, and, thereafter, appointing the Writ Petitioners to the post of Pharmacist after providing for age relaxation.

5. According to the Respondents, it was not open to the State Government to interpret the Rules differently to the prejudice of the Respondents’ right to appointment, though similarly situated persons had been given the benefit of the said Rules under which the Respondents were denied appointment when their turn came to be appointed. The order passed by the learned Single Judge, while disposing of various Writ Petitions, was challenged by the Respondents in several Writ Appeals before the Division Bench of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, which after recognizing the anomalous position which had arisen, disposed of the various Appeals with a direction that the case of the Appellants would be considered in accordance with the pre-existing practice by considering their appointment on the basis of their merit, but that the said process would be available only for the Appellants. It was directed that they would be accommodated if they were otherwise found eligible and the remaining vacancies would be fille