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5. The legal position on the issue is no more res integra. Supreme Court dealt with it first in UPSRTC v. U.P. Parivahan Limited (supra) and laid down the criteria in para 12 of its judgment which amongst other things provided that "other things being equal, a trained apprentice should be given preference over direct recruits." The court, consequently directed appointment of candidates without requiring them to appear in written examination in the facts and circumstances of the case in para 13. The terms of these two paras were interpreted differently at different stages till Allahabad High Court Full Bench ruled in Arvind Gautam v. State of U.P. that trained apprentices had to appear in the competitive test/examination, as may be prescribed in respect of a particular selection and thereafter if an apprentice trainee secured equal marks to the non-apprentice one, preference was required to be given to the apprentice trainee.