( 1 ) THERE are 29 petitioners in this writ petition. Their grievance is common. They all belong to the category of `schedule Castes (hereinafter referred to as `sc , for short ). The complaint of the petitioner is that their certificates of being `sc are not considered by the respondents for selection to the post of teachers including Assistant Teachers in Municipal Corporation of Delhi/new Delhi Municipal Committee (hereinafter referred to as `mcd/ndmc , for short) merely on the ground that their certificates are submitted after 30th June, 1998, the last date specified for the purpose.

( 2 ) THE controversy in this case arises in the back drop of following factual matrix.

( 3 ) RESPONDENT No. 1 Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (hereinafter referred to as "nctd", for short) has constituted Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (hereinafter referred to as `board , for short) which is respondent No. 2 in this writ petition. This Board is constituted for the purpose of recruiting people from various user departments in development, selection and recruitment procedure. The Board issued advertisement on 12th June, 1998 in newspapers for various posts of teachers including Assistant Teachers to be appointed in various MCD/ndmc schools. As per this advertisement last date of submitting complete application forms for respective post was 30th June, 1998 and the forms could be submitted at any of the centres mentioned in the advertisement. The advertisement further stipulated number of posts reserved for `sc /scheduled Tribues/other Backward Classes (hereinafter referred to as SC/st/obc, for short) and stated the number of posts reserved for teachers in the `sc category as 790. The petitioners applied for the post of Assistant Teachers persuant to the aforesaid advertisement under the `sc category. It is further stated by the petitioners that all the requisite certificates including certificate of their being `sc were submitted and after perusing these certificates and being satisfied therefrom Board called these petitioners for verification between 6th October, 1998 and 22nd October, 1998. Board issued call letters (Annexure P-2 colly) to the candidates for the purpose of verification stipulating therein that the documents should be brought in original and in case of SC/st/obc candidates the certificate must be issued by competent authority of the NCTD. The petitioners stated that copy of this certificate was already submitted to the Board and only for verification of the same with the original certificate, petitioners were called by the Board. Petitioner attended the Office of the Board for verification and checking of the original documents however, subsequently petitioner came to know that their candidature was not considered by the Board on the ground that their certificate of being `sc was dated after 30th June, 1998 and only those candidates whose certificates were dated prior to 30th June, 1998 were considered. Petitioners termed this action of the respondents as arbitrary and illegal and contended that the date of certificate is immaterial as what is relevant is that the petitioners belong to `sc category and this fact does not change whether the certificate is dated prior to 30th June, 1998 or after 30th June, 1998. In these circumstances, the present writ petition is preferred by the petitioners challenging Board s non-consideration of their candidature on the aforesaid ground.

( 4 ) I may state here that there are number of other petitions filed by other petitioners who are identically situated as the petitioners in this case and whose case are also rejected on the ground that they submitted their SC certificate issued by competent authority of NCTD only after 30th June, 1998. All these petitions were clubbed and heard together. Mr. G. B. Sewak argued on behalf of the petitioner in Civil Writ Petition No. 7360 of 1999, Dr. Surat Singh argued on behalf of petitioner in Civil Writ