SURINDER MOHAN Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these writ petitions are amenable for being decided through a common verdict on account of theirs inhering a common question of law and fact. In essence, the petitioners are aggrieved by the respondents' decision declaring them ineligible for appointment to the post of Intelligence Assistant (in the respective ranks of Constable and Sub-Inspector) on the ground of non-fulfilment of the prescribed educational qualifications.

(2.) Concisely and compendiously, the respondent(s)-department, vide Advertisement No.1/2016 dtd. 1/9/2016 and Advertisement No.2/2016 dtd. 8/9/2016, invited online applications for direct recruitment to fill up vacancies of male and female Intelligence Assistants and Intelligence Officers, in the respective ranks of Constable and Sub- Inspector, in the Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police. The petitioners applied within the stipulated period and successfully cleared the physical efficiency test, whereafter they were permitted to appear in the written examination. However, upon scrutiny of documents by a duly constituted Committee, the petitioners were found ineligible on account of non- fulfilment of the prescribed educational qualifications.

(3.) Since the fulcrum of the dispute consists of the educational qualifications prescribed in the respective advertisements (supra), it is deemed imperative, at the outset, to advert to and examine the prescribed educational qualifications, which are reproduced hereinafter:-