JUDGMENT N.D. Ojha, J. - An offer of appointment for the post of Assistant Grade III (Depot) was made by the Food Corporation of India, Regional Office, Lucknow on 18th March, 1978 to the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978. In pursuance of that offer, the petitioner submitted a joining report by letter dated 10th April, 1978. The District Manager, Food Corporation of India, respondent No. 1, intimated to the petitioner that his joining report was not being accepted, in as much as he had not procured 50 per cent marks in Graduation. It is this order which is sought to be quashed in Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978. The offer of appointment which was made to the petitioner No. 1 was in pursuance of a test which was held on 5th Dec., 1976 for filling in certain posts of Assistant Grade III (Depot.) In the same test the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 4084 of 1978 had also appeared but their results were not declared. The prayer made by them in this writ petition is that the respondents may be directed to declare the results of the petitioners of the aforesaid written test. The case of the respondents in a nut shell is that since neither the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978 nor the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 4084 of 1978 had secured more than 50 per cent marks in their Graduation, none of them was eligible for appointment on the post of Assistant Grade III (Depot) and it is for this reason that the joining report of the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978 was not accepted and the results of the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 4084 of 1978 were not declared. 2. 2. The main submission made by counsel for the petitioners in these two writ petitions is that the minimum qualification which was prescribed by Regulation 7 read with its Appendix I of the Staff Regulations, 1971 framed by the Food Corporation of India under Section 45 of the Food Corporation Act, 1954 was Graduate alone and it was not open to the Regional Manager to prescribe higher qualification, namely, obtaining more than 50 per cent marks in Graduation as was done by him vide order dated 17th Nov., 1976, a copy whereof has been filed as Annexure "A-I" to the counter-affidavit whereby each of the Employment Exchanges in the State of Uttar Pradesh was requested to sponsor twenty candidates fulfilling the prescribed requirements for the post of Assistant Grade III (Depot.), Educational qualification which was prescribed for general candidates in the said order was Graduate with not less than 50 per cent marks in aggregate in B.A./B.Com. examinations. Preference was to be given to candidates possessing higher qualification. 3. The second submission made by counsel for the petitioners was that even if the qualification prescribed in the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 is taken to be within the competence of the Regional Manager, the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3914 of 1978 and petitioner No. 2 in the other writ petition could not be refused an appointment inasmuch as they were B.Sc. and neither B.A. nor B.Com., whereas the qualification prescribed in the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 of having obtained more than 50 per cent marks was applicable only to those who were B.A. or B.Com. 4. Before dealing with these submissions we may point out that the plea on which' the second submission aforesaid is based has not been taken in either of these two writ petitions. It was only during the course of arguments on 23rd Nov., 1978 that this submission was made and since on the face of the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 referred to above the submission appeared to be plausible we required the counsel for the Food Corporation of India to clarify the position. A supplementary counter-affidavit has been filed today, a copy whereof was served on counsel for the petitioners on 30th Nov., 1978. No reply to that supplementary counter-affidavit has been filed. A supplementary counter-affidavit has been filed today, a copy whereof was served on counsel for the petitioners on 30th Nov., 1978. No reply to that supplementary counter-affidavit has been filed. This supplementary counter affidavit gives the procedure which has been adopted by the Food Corporation of India in the matter of filling in the posts of Assistant Grade III (Technical) as well as Assistant Grade III (Depot). In para. 3 of the supplementary counter affidavit it has been stated that the cadres of Assistant Grade III is subdivided into three sub-cadres as below: (i) Assistant Grade III (Depot.) p. 49 S. No. 6 of Appendix-I of the Staff F.C.I. Regulations 1971; (ii) Assistant Grade III (Technical) page 51 S. No. 7 of Appendix-I of F.C.I. Regulations, 1971; (iii) Assistant Grade III (Ministerial) (General Administration) otherwise known as Ministerial (page 45 S. No. 9 of the Appendix-I of Staff F.C.I. Regulations, 1971). Minimum qualifications for sub-categories (i) and (iii) above are graduate while those of sub-category (ii) are degree in Science preferably in Agriculture. In para. 4 of this affidavit it has been stated that a few month's earlier to the examination in question certain posts of Assistant Grade III (Technical) were filled in. The appointing authority called for the names of Science Graduates who had secured more than 50 per cent marks in their Graduation from all the Employment Exchanges of Uttar Pradesh Region including University Employment information and Guidance Bureaus. Out of the candidates sponsored by the Employment Exchanges including University Employment Information and Guidance Bureaus all the candidates who had secured first division in M.Sc. were selected and offers of appointment were issued to them. Certain posts were reserved for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes and Ex-servicemen and a test was held for filling these posts. About eight hundred candidates who were of the general category and who had not secured first division in M.Sc. but had obtained more than 50 per cent marks in their Graduation as contemplated by the requirement mentioned in the letter issued to the employment Exchanges and Bureaus as aforesaid were not considered for appointment to the post of Assistant Grade III (Technical). A list of those candidates remained with the Food Corporation of India. but had obtained more than 50 per cent marks in their Graduation as contemplated by the requirement mentioned in the letter issued to the employment Exchanges and Bureaus as aforesaid were not considered for appointment to the post of Assistant Grade III (Technical). A list of those candidates remained with the Food Corporation of India. Subsequently some posts of Assistant Grade III (Depot) were to be filled in and the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 referred to above was issued to the Employment Exchanges of Uttar Pradesh and all Universities Employment Information Guidance Bureaus wherein the minimum qualification prescribed for general candidates as already stated above was obtaining more than 50 per cent marks in B.A. and B.Com. According to the respondents since a list of all such candidates who had obtained more than 50 per cent marks in B.Sc. and had not been offered an appointment for the post of Assistant Grade (Technical) inasmuch as they had not secured first class marks in M.Sc. was already there with Food Corporation of India while issuing the order dated 17th Nov., 1976, the Employment Exchanges and the Bureaus were not required to send the names of such candidates who were B.Sc. having obtained more than 50 per cent marks. It is not disputed that all the three petitioners in these two writ petitions had secured less than 50 per cent marks in their graduation. In this view of the matter none of them was eligible for appointment to the post of Assistant Grade III (Depot). 5. Now we revert to the two submissions made by counsel for the petitioners. Having heard counsel for the parties, we are of opinion that there is no substance in either of these submissions. Regulation 7 read with Appendix-I no, doubt prescribes the minimum qualification as Graduate but from that circumstance alone it cannot be said that the appointing authority in order to have best talents was not competent to prescribe that the names of only such graduates may be sponsored who had obtained not less than 50 per cent marks. Regulation 9 (a) deals with the procedure for direct recruitment of Category III and IV posts. In this writ petition we are concerned with certain posts which fell in Category III. It provides: "9. Regulation 9 (a) deals with the procedure for direct recruitment of Category III and IV posts. In this writ petition we are concerned with certain posts which fell in Category III. It provides: "9. Procedure for direct recruitment: The following procedure shall be followed in the case of direct recruitment to posts sanctioned for more than 3 month's or the posts sanctioned initially for less than 3 month's but extended beyond 3 months. (a) Category III and IV posts: The vacancies shall be notified to the Employment Exchanges/Exchanges having jurisdiction over the unit of appointment. If the Employment Exchanges furnish a non-availability certificate, the appointing authority shall arrange for the In issue of an advertisement in a prominent newspaper or newspapers circulating in the Region covered by the Unit of appointment. All applications received shall be considered and promising candidates called for interview. Final selection shall be made on the basis of an interview or after holding a test, wherever such a test is considered necessary or appropriate, having regard to the nature of the post." In regard to the first submission it may be pointed out that what is meant by prescribing minimum qualification is that no candidates who is not possessed of such qualification is eligible for consideration. It does not however mean that the appointing authority is debarred from adopting a fair procedure for finding out the best candidates out of those who are eligible. Under Regulation 9 the appointing authority was to select the best candidates either by holding .an interview or by holding written test. In this process unless the procedure which is to be followed for securing the end namely of having best talents is left to the discretion of the appointing authority, it would not be possible for the said authority to achieve the object. If for a limited number of vacancies quite a large number of candidates are eligible it becomes the duty of the appointing authority in order to select the best candidates sufficient to fill in such vacancies to adopt a fair procedure for eliminating candidates of lesser merit and in this process it is quite legitimate for it to prescribe that out of the eligible candidates only such of them would be considered who have secured higher percentage of marks in the examination passing of which constitutes the minimum qualification as was done in the instant case. In this process, however, a uniform requirement will be necessary. In the instant case the requirement of the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 was uniform, inasmuch as the requirement of having obtained more than 50 per cent marks was applicable to all the general category candidates without any discrimination. In Daulat Raj Singhvi v. State of Rajasthan (1972 Serv LR 470) (Raj) Rr. 8 (ii) and 15 (ii) of the Rajasthan Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1969 came up for consideration before a Division Bench of that Court. These rules prescribed the qualification for direct recruitment to Rajasthan Higher Judicial service as being an advocate who had practised in the Court's of Rajasthan for a period of not less than seven years. What was of the essence was that his practice should have been in the Rajasthan High Court or Court's subordinate thereto. One of the questions which came up for consideration in the said case was whether the requirement of practising in the Rajasthan High Court or Court's subordinate to it was in derogation of the qualification prescribed under Article 233 of the Constitution and if so whether Rules 8 (ii) and 15 (ii) were ultra vires on this ground. It was held that these rules were not in any manner violative of Article 15 or Article 233 of the Constitution. In arriving at his conclusion it was held that a person who has gained seven years experience at the Bar in Rajasthan is likely to equip himself with the fair knowledge of local laws as well as knowledge of local dialects and the local conditions so that he will be a suitable person to hold a higher judicial post and would be able to discharge his duties efficiently. Thus there is a reasonable classification for persons who had practiced for the requisite number of years in Rajasthan and those who had not so practised. Classification made by the rule making authority is thus not open to question on the ground of discrimination. 6. Coming to the second submission made by counsel for the petitioners it may be pointed out that by the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 only the names of such candidates had been permitted to be sponsored by the Employment Exchanges and the Bureaus aforesaid who had obtained not less than 50 per cent marks in aggregate in B.A./B. Com. so far as general candidates are concerned. so far as general candidates are concerned. The reason for doing so was that the names of such candidates who had obtained not less than 50 per cent marks in B. Sc. had already been submitted by the Employment Exchanges and the Bureaus aforesaid in connection with the recruitment for the post of Assistant Grade III (Technical) and a list of such candidates was already there with the Food Corporation of India. Indeed on the basis of the order dated 17th Nov., 1976 it was open to the Employment Exchanges and the Bureaus aforesaid to have sponsored the names of only such candidates who were Graduate with not less than 50 per cent marks in aggregate in B.A./B. Com. In other words the name of no candidate who was B. Sc. even if he had obtained not less than 50 per cent marks was to be sponsored in pursuance of that order. Consequently the name of the petitioner in writ petition No. 3915 of 1978 and the name of petitioner No. 2 in the connected writ petition could not have even been sponsored by the Employment Exchange concerned. So far as Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978 is concerned it is necessary to note an additional circumstance to meet the submission made by counsel for the petitioner that after having made the offer for appointment it was not open to respondent No. 1 to refuse to accept the joining report of the petitioner. Firstly, as seen above, the Employment Exchanges and the Bureaus concerned were required to sponsor 20 candidates each only. It has been stated in the counter affidavit that the Employment Exchange, Pratapgarh which sponsored the name of the petitioner in this writ petition as also the names of the two petitioners in the connected writ petition had already sponsored 20 candidates to the Regional Manager, Lucknow Branch in pursuance of the aforesaid order dated 17th Nov., 1976. It has further been stated in the counter-affidavit that the names of these three persons were subsequently sponsored by the said Employment Exchange surreptitiously to District Manager, Allahabad, respondent No. 1 and sponsoring their names from the very inception was illegal. It has further been stated in the counter-affidavit that the names of these three persons were subsequently sponsored by the said Employment Exchange surreptitiously to District Manager, Allahabad, respondent No. 1 and sponsoring their names from the very inception was illegal. Secondly so far as the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978 is concerned it has been brought to our notice that on the first page of his answer book a photostat copy of which has been attached along with the counter-affidavit, he had stated that he had secured 51 per cent marks in B. Sc. It was on the basis of this entry made by the petitioner in his answer book that the offer was made. In the joining report, a copy whereof has been annexed as Annexure-4 to the writ petition the petitioner has stated that his percentage of marks in B.Sc. was 48.6 per cent and not 51 per cent and made a request that necessary correction may be made in this behalf. According to the respondents, it was at this stage that it was discovered that the petitioner was not entitled for being appointed inasmuch as he had secured less than 50 per cent marks in his graduation and it was for this reason that his joining report was not accepted. The petitioner has not been able to furnish any satisfactory explanation as to why he gave out in his answer book that he had obtained 51 per cent marks in B. Sc. when indeed he had obtained only 48.6 per cent marks. In this view of the matter it cannot be said that the respondents committed any error in refusing to accept the joining report of the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3915 of 1978 nor can it be said that any mistake was committed by the respondents in not declaring the results of the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 4084 of 1978. 7. In the result we find no merit in either of these two writ petitions and they are accordingly dismissed but in the circumstances of the case there will be no order as to costs.