JUDGMENT Srivastava, J. - This special appeal has been filed against an order of Mr. Justice Mehrotra, dismissing the Appellant's writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution. 2. The Appellant was at one time a student of the Junior High School Turtipur, District Hardoi, an institution recognised by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, UP. He left the school on 15-10-1953 while he was studying in the VIII class without passing the annual examination of that class. He then studied privately and on 12-9-1955, he applied for permission to appear as a private candidate at the High School Examination of 1956. The permission was not granted to him on the ground that he had not passed, the Junior High School examination or class VIII examination of any recognised school. The Board, while rejecting his application, relied on Clause (v) of Regulation X of the Regulations framed by it in connection with the eligibility of private candidates to sit for the High school examination. In his writ petition the Appellant contended that the interpretation which the Board had placed on Clause (v) of the Regulations was not correct and prayed for a writ of mandamus, directing the Board to admit him to the High School Examination as a private candidate. This contention was not accepted by the learned Judge and he dismissed the petition. Hence this appeal. 3. Sub-section (5) of Section 7 of the Board of High School and Intermediate Education Act, 1921 authorises the Board to admit candidates to its examinations. Section 15 of the Act empowers the Board to make regulations for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the Act. U-sub/s. (2) of Section 15 of the Act the Board may make regulations providing among other matters for "(e) the conditions under which candidates shall be admitted to the examinations of the Board and shall be eligible for diplomas and certificates,..." 4. Under the above mentioned provisions the Board has made certain regulations. Regulation 10 of Chapter XII deals with the eligibility of the private candidates and so far as is material provides as follows: 5. 10. Under the above mentioned provisions the Board has made certain regulations. Regulation 10 of Chapter XII deals with the eligibility of the private candidates and so far as is material provides as follows: 5. 10. (1) The High School Examination shall be open to the following classes of candidates who intend to appear as private candidates: (i) candidates who have passed the Junior High School Examination or the examination formerly called as Hindustani Middle Examination or Class VIII of a recognised institution provided two academical years have elapsed from the date of their passing the said examination: (ii) Candidates Who have passed class IX as regular student of a recognised institution provided one academical year has elapsed from the date of their passing the said examination: (iii) Candidates who have failed in the High School or an equivalent examination of 1954 or an earlier year and produce a certificate to this effect with the date of birth entered therein, provided they are otherwise eligible; (iv) Candidates who have attended in continuation classes far two academical years and furnish a certificate to this effect with the dale of birth entered therein from the head of the institution at which they studied, subject to the condition that before joining the class, the candidate had passed the Junior High School Examination or class VIII of a recognised School; (v) In the case of a student who had left a recognised institution (including a Junior High School and not a primary School) at a stage earlier that the High School stage, the interval between his leaving the school and his admission to the High School Examination as a private candidate shall not be less than the time he would have taken to be eligible for admission to the examination, if he had continued at the institution even if he had passed the Junior High School Examination or class VIII of a recognised institution. 6. The Appellant does not question the validity of the regulation. What he contends is that the regulation lays down five category of candidates who are eligible to appear as private candidates at the High School Examination. Each of these five categories is described in one of the five clauses of para (1) Regulation No. 10. 6. The Appellant does not question the validity of the regulation. What he contends is that the regulation lays down five category of candidates who are eligible to appear as private candidates at the High School Examination. Each of these five categories is described in one of the five clauses of para (1) Regulation No. 10. The five categories are independent categories and a candidate is entitled to be admitted as a private candidate at the, examination if he can show that he falls within any one of the five categories. It is conceded that the Appellant did not fall under the categories mentioned in Clauses (i) to (iv). It is urged that the Appellant clearly fell under category mentioned in Clause (v), and he was, therefore, entitled to be admitted as a private candidate for the examination of 1956. 7. The reply on behalf of the Respondent is that the interpretation which the Board has put on the regulation is the correct one. Clause (v) of para (1) of Regulation No. 10 does not provide a separate category of candidates eligible for the examination as the first four clauses do. This clause really lays down a condition which the candidates mentioned in the clause must fulfil even though they may fall within one or more of the categories enumerated in the first four clauses. Before the Appellant could, therefore, be permitted to appear at the examination as a private candidate it was necessary for him to show that he fell within one of the four categories mentioned in Clauses Nos. (i) to (iv) of the Regulation and, if he was a candidate who had left a recognised institution at an earlier stage, he had also to show that he fulfilled the condition mentioned in Clause (v), without passing the Junior High School of class VIII Examination the Appellant could not fall under any of the four categories mentioned in Clauses (i) to (iv). So even if he fulfilled the condition mentioned in Clause (v) he could not be permitted to appear at the High School examination. 8. The learned Judge preferred the Respondents contention to that of the Appellant's. Notwithstanding the careful arguments' which have been addressed to us, we have come to the conclusion that view of the learned Judge must be upheld. 9. 8. The learned Judge preferred the Respondents contention to that of the Appellant's. Notwithstanding the careful arguments' which have been addressed to us, we have come to the conclusion that view of the learned Judge must be upheld. 9. The whole difficulty appears to have arisen because the framers of the Regulation chose to number the clause containing the additional condition which they wanted the eligible candidates to fulfil in the same manner in which they had numbered the first four clauses of the Regulation in which they had enumerated the classes of candidates who were eligible to appear as private candidates. 10. The opening sentence of para. (1) of the Regulation declares that the persons mentioned in the following clauses would be eligible to appear as private candidates. Then follow four clauses and each of the clauses opens with the words candidates who showing that the clauses are intended to describe the categories in which a candidate bad to fall before he can be eligible. The enumeration of the categories comes to an end with Clause (iv) of para. (1) of the Regulation. Clause (v) does not begin with the words 'candidates who', indicating that it is not intended to describe a separate category of candidates. What is really laid down in it is an additional restriction or condition which is being placed on some of the students who belong to one of the four categories which have been described in the first four clauses. Students falling in any of the categories mentioned in the first four clauses can be of two kinds (1) those who have left a recognised institution at a stage higher than the primary stage but lower than the High School stage and (2) those who have not left a recognised institution at any such stage. For the persons of the second kind there can be no question of providing any additional condition. They are persons who have either all along studied as private candidates, or, if they had joined any recognised institution at any stage, had continued in that institution till they had passed the Junior High School or class VIII Examination, or had left it before the primary stage. They are persons who have either all along studied as private candidates, or, if they had joined any recognised institution at any stage, had continued in that institution till they had passed the Junior High School or class VIII Examination, or had left it before the primary stage. Persons of the first kind could not obviously be allowed to curtail the period which they would have normally taken had they continued in the institution and thus be better ff for leaving it at an earlier stage. 11. Clause (v) therefore provides that if the persons falling under the first four clauses of the Regulation have at any time left a recognised institution after the primary stage but earlier than the High School stage, even if they passed the High School or class VIII Examination, they are bound to fulfil the additional condition that the interval between their leaving school and their admission to the High School Examination as private candidates should not be less than the time they would have taken to be eligible for admission to the examination if they had continued at the institution. 12. The only reasonable construction that can thus be put on Clause (v) is that it is not meant to create a fifth category of students eligible to appear as private candidates at the High School examination but is intended to lay down a condition that a person has to fulfil in order to be eligible for admission to the High School Examination as a private candidate, even if be falls within one of the four categories enumerated in Clauses (i) to (iv) of the Regulation. If he left a recognised institution at the stage mentioned in this clause he must fulfil the condition laid down in it about time also. The fact that the clause containing the additional condition was numbered as Clause (v) cannot show necessarily that it was intended to craete a fifth category. Clause (iv) of the Regulation has been similarly numbered and it is conceded that it only provides for a condition of residence in respect of certain candidates and has not created a separate category of candidates eligible to sit for the examination. 13. Clause (iv) of the Regulation has been similarly numbered and it is conceded that it only provides for a condition of residence in respect of certain candidates and has not created a separate category of candidates eligible to sit for the examination. 13. It was urged that if Clause (v) was only an additional restriction which was being created there was no necessity of using the words "even if he had passed the Junior High School Examination or class VIII of a recognised institution" at the end of the clause. It is true that the clause would have been equally effective as an additional condition if these words had not been there, but the mere fact that these words have been put in cannot justify the contention that the clause creates a fifth category of the students eligible to appear at the High School examination. Apparently the words have been used as a matter of abundant caution to ensure that in case of a candidate who had left a recognised institution at an earlier stage the mere passing of the Junior High School examination or class VIII examination of a recognised institution should not be sufficient for making him eligible to appear at the High School examination. He must in addition fulfill the condition mentioned in Clause (v) about time also. 14. It therefore appears to us that as the Appellant did not fall within any of the categories mentioned in the first four clauses of Regulation No. 10 he could no; be allowed to appear at the High School Examination as a private candidate. The mere fact that after leaving the recognised institution which he had once joined he had allowed the necessary period to elapse before applying for being permitted to appear as a private candidate at the High School Examination was not sufficient to make him eligible for the examination. 15. The only point urged in appeal is thus without force. The appeal is consequently dismissed with costs.