Daya Chaudhary, J. - (1.) The present writ petition has been filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the candidatures of the petitioners to the posts of Vocational Mistresses (Garment Making and Knitting) in pursuance of advertisement dated 23.09.2009.
(2.) Briefly, the facts of the case as made out in the present writ petition are that respondents issued advertisement for filling up 2106 posts of Vocational Masters and Mistresses to the various categories such as garment making, knitting, weaving and other categories, which was published in daily newspaper 'Ajit' dated 23.09.2009. Petitioner No.1 applied in category of knitting whereas petitioners No.2 to 4 applied in the category of garment making. Petitioner No.1 belongs to Backward Class whereas petitioner No.2 belongs to SC Category. Thereafter, the merit list was prepared by the respondents category-wise, which was also displayed on the website. Petitioner No.1 was shown at Sr. No.16 in the category of Vocational Mistress Knitting whereas petitioners No.2 and 3 were at Sr. No.23 and 28 in the category of Vocational Mistress Garment Making. Thereafter, a public notice was published in the daily newspaper 'Punjab Kesari' mentioning that the candidates, who had applied in pursuance of advertisement dated 23.09.2009 for filling up of the vacant posts of 7654 teachers and had passed three years diploma from the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and are having three years experience from Government or any recognised institution and those who could not earlier appear in the counselling for any reason, they may appear for counselling on 29.09.2011. The petitioners appeared before the Departmental Selection Committee but they were not allowed to appear in the counselling. Nothing was conveyed in writing and orally, it was informed that their three years diploma was from Industrial Training Institute and they could not be considered for the post of Vocational Mistress. Petitioner No.1 made written representation stating therein that they are having three years diploma from ITI issued by the Punjab State Board of Technical Education still their case was not considered.
(3.) The petitioners have approached this Court by way of filing the present writ petition to challenge the action of respondents.;