Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Sanjeev Kumar

ORDER

Sanjeev Kumar, J.

1. In this batch of writ petitions, challenge has been thrown to the Advertisement Notification No. Pers-A400/2006/7503-403 dated 30.12.2016 issued by respondent No. 2 insofar as it provides maximum age of 28 years for direct recruitment and 30 years for in-service candidates as on 01.01.2016 for being eligible to seek consideration for selection to the post of Sub-Inspector (Executive/Armed) in J&K Police. It may be stated that some of the petitioners in the aforesaid writ petitions are candidates from the open market, whereas in some petitions, the petitioners are in-service candidates serving in the Police Department and other Departments of the State in different capacities. The issues of law and fact raised in all the petitions aforesaid are identical and pertain to the selection of Sub-Inspectors (Executive/Armed) in J&K Police initiated vide aforesaid Advertisement Notification, as such, all the petitions have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The facts, as narrated by the petitioners in these petitions, are not disputed. All the petitioners were candidates desirous of seeking consideration for selection to the post of Sub-Inspectors (Executive/Armed) in the J&K Police, but were not permitted to participate in the selection process on the ground that they were beyond the prescribed maximum age limit. The grounds of challenge taken in these petitions and urged by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners are summed up as under:

'i. That prescription of maximum age limit of 28 years for the candidates from the open market and 30 years in the case of in-service candidates, is illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory, inasmuch as the same age limit has been prescribed both for the Constables and Sub-Inspectors when the minimum qualification for appointment of Constables is matriculation, whereas in the case of Sub-Inspectors, it is Graduation.

ii. That the last Advertisement for making direct recruitment to the posts of Sub-Inspector was issued by respondent No. 2 on 31.01.2009 and there was no recruitment made thereafter for almost 7 years and because of this inordinate delay in making the selection, the petitioners have been rendered overaged having crossed the prescribed maximum age limit.

iii. That in terms of J&K Civil Services (Reference of Vacancies and Holding of Meeting of DPC) Rules, 2005 (for short 'Rules of 2005'), a duty has been cast upon all the Departments including respondent No. 2 to refer the posts for direct recruitment to the selection agency at least once in a year, and had the respondents followed the mandate of aforesaid Rules, the available vacancies could have been notified in the year 2010, 2011, 2012 and thereafter and the petitioners would have competed for the same as during the aforesaid years, they were well within the maximum prescribed age.

iv. That in the year 2015, the Government promulgated J&K Special Recruitment Rules, 2015 (for short 'Recruitment Rules') vide SRO 202 of 2015 dated 30.06.2015 putting on all the respondents a mandatory duty to refer the existing vacancies that would accrue during the year to the concerned selection agency within a period of one month from the date of issuance of the Recruitment Rules. Failure on the part of the respondents to follow the mandate of Special Recruitment Rules has deprived the petitioners of the opportunity to apply for the posts when they were well within the prescribed age limit.

v. That the in-service candidates particularly those serving in the Po........