Srinivasan, J. - (1.) There are nine petitioners in the earlier writ petition and one petitioner in the later writ petition. They were appointed by the first respondent as General Duty Medical Officer Grade II between 1982 and 1985. The first petitioner in the Civil Writ Petition 60 of 1994 and petitioner in Writ Petition No. 8 of 1997 were appointed in 1982. Petitioners 2 and 3 in the earlier writ petition were appointed in 1983. Petitioners 4 and 5 were appointed in 1984 whereas petitioners 6 to 9 were appointed in 1985. It is not in dispute that all of them were appointed on purely ad hoc basis on the same terms and conditions. In the appointment orders, Clause 1 stated that the appointment would be purely on an ad hoc basis as a stop gap arrangement for a period of six months or till such time the posts were filled up on regular basis through Union Public Service Commission (for short 'UPSC') or till further orders whichever was earlier. Clause 2 provided that the ad hoc appointments could be terminated at any time by the competent authority without assigning any reason whatsoever and without giving any prior notice. According to Clause 3, the appointment will not confer any right whatever on the appointee for regular/permanent appointment. Under Clause 9 the appointees were advised for regular appointment to pass the U.P.S.C. examination in normal course in the direct competition.
(2.) There is a specific averment in the counter-affidavit filed by the first respondent that in spite of several opportunities available to the petitioners, they preferred not to apply to the UPSC for direct competition entitling them to be appointed on regular basis. The petitioners have not filed any rejoinder controverting the same.
(3.) The Recruitment Rules, called "The Delhi Municipal Corporation Health Service Recruitment Regulations, 1982" (hereinafter refered to as 'the Rules') were made by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi under Section 98 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 and notified under Notification No. R9/38/82-LSG/5686 dated 6-8-82. As per the rules, the posts in question were to be filled up through the U.P.S.C. Admittedly, the petitioners were not selected through U.P.S.C. but according to the petitioners they were selected by a high-profile Selection Committee consisting of Deputy Commissioner and Director (Personnel) of M.C.D., Medical Superintendent of the hospital concerned and two specialists in Clinical Medicine from two renowned hospitals.;