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66. The writ Court also relied upon the observations in State of Bihar v. Madan Mohan Singh 1994 (3) SCC 308 wherein the Apex Court directed that the selection be confined only to advertised posts and the recommendations made by the Public Service Commission beyond the advertised vacancies were directed not to be accepted.

67. A similar issue came up for consideration in case Sandeep Singh v. State of Haryana and Anr., the Apex Court held that at least the vacancies available up to the date of interview should be filled up from the same examination lest there is any statutory embargo for the same. In All India SC & ST Employees Association and Anr. v. A. Arthur Jeen and Ors., the advertisement was issued on 7-9-1995 inviting applications for 330 posts. On 17-5-1996 appointing authority (Railway Board) decided to have the panel prepared for 917 vacancies. The selection committee framed a panel for 917 candidates which was published. The selection came to be challenged before the Central Administrative Tribunal which quashed the panel of selected candidates on two counts; (i) increase in the vacancies from 330 to 917 and (ii) absence of guide-lines to 80% marks allocated for the selection. The decision of the CAT came to be challenged before the High Court which up-held the selection and directed the authorities to make appointment against 382 available vacancies. Those candidates who were in the panel upto 917 challenged the judgment before the Apex Court which held as under:

"Similarly the contention that the vacancies to be filled up could not be increased to 917 from 330 originally notified without there being subsequent notification is untenable in view of the changed situation as explained above. No fault can be found with the direction of the High Court to issue appointments only to available vacancies on merit out of the candidates included in the panel of selected candidates following rules of reservation and that too reserving 3% seats to physically handicapped instead of 2%. 382 vacancies would be available upto March 2002 possibly as of now all the 382 candidates may not be given appointment' the appointments may be given upto 330 or less. Further, the purpose of issuing notification and giving due publicity is to provide opportunity to as many eligible candidates as possible. Employment Notification No. 1 of 1995 was issued on 7-9-1995 and the decision was taken to increase the posts on 17-5-1996, the time gap was hardly 8 months, as many as 58,675 made applications and 32,563 were called for interview. It was quite probable that all candidates eligible and interested including a large number of local candidates, applied for the post. The time gap of about 8 months between the original notification and the decision to increase posts not being much, it cannot be said that many of the eligible candidates were deprived of applying for the posts looking to the requirements of eligibility. As already stated above, in the changed situation only 382 posts are to be filled up upto March, 2002. The selected candidates are to be appointed on the basis of merit following rules of reservation applicable to different categories. The process of selection was long-drawn and the candidates were made to appear for interview twice. The candidates and their families have been waiting for a long time from 1995 with great hope of getting jobs. Enormous money and man hours have been spent in completing the process of selection in preparing the panel of selected candidates. In this view there was no justification for the Tribunal to quash the entire panel of selected candidates."

68. It is true that 164 vacancies referred to the Commission during the pendency of the selection process were not advertised. One can understand the grievance of the candidates who had become eligible after the last date for making applications as they stood prevented from applying and seeking their consideration for selection / appointment. But how the candidates who applied for the post in response to the earlier notifications and remained un-successful can throw a challenge on the ground that the vacancies were not advertised. In fact such of the candidates who had applied against the advertised vacancies and during the currency of selection the number of vacancies is increased have better chance of selection. With the increase in number of vacancies the competition amongst the applicants lessened. Earlier they were to compete against 413 vacancies. With the increase of 164 vacancies they were to compete against 597 vacancies with the same number of candidates. At least the writ petitioners cannot complain for the increase of the vacancies as it provided them better opportunity of selection. No prejudice has been shown to have been caused to them as they were the one who had an opportunity to seek their consideration against the additional vacancies also. Apex Court in All India SC & ST Employees Association v. A. Arthur Jeen and Ors. (Supra) has accorded approval to the selection of candidates against the vacancies referred during the currency of selection.