The High Court of Calcutta, while allowing a petition challenging the action of the respondent whereby it prevented the petitioner from sitting in the interview, held that after a candidate has participated in the selection process and cleared all the stages successfully, his candidature can only be canceled after careful scrutiny of the gravity of the lapse and not for trivial omissions or errors.
Brief Facts:
The petitioner, hailing from interior parts of Jalpaiguri, where internet connectivity is poor according to the petitioner, applied to take the examinations for the post of Probationary Officers/Management Trainees for banks. Respondent No. 2 was the common online platform conducting the said examinations. After the petitioner passed the prelims and mains, when the petitioner’s turn came to be interviewed, certain discrepancies regarding her date of birth between the various documents submitted by her were apparently detected. The concerned banks left the decision as to whether to permit the petitioner to respondent no. 2, which was in charge of conducting the examinations. Respondent No. 2 prevented the petitioner from sitting in the interview. Hence, the present petition.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner submitted that since the age of the candidate was to be between 20 and 30 years at the relevant point of time, the petitioner fully qualified the said age criterion, whichever document may be considered for taking the date of birth of the petitioner.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent submitted that if the petitioner was armed with all the said documents, there was no conceivable reason why the petitioner disclosed her date of birth to be March 30, 2000, which is in contradistinction with her birth certificate and her ISC Admit Card. The rules are clear, he argued, to the effect that the eligibility criteria are to be satisfied by the concerned candidate by submission of due documents.
Observations of the court:
The court noted that after a candidate has participated in the selection process and cleared all the stages successfully, his candidature can only be canceled after careful scrutiny of the gravity of the lapse and not for trivial omissions or errors. In the present case, the petitioner hails from the interior parts of the State where even proper internet facilities are not available.
The Court observed that the object of a public examination cannot by any means be construed to be so restrictive as to be cruel to the candidates, particularly for brilliant people like the petitioner, who has already cleared the preliminary and mains in the tough banking examination concerned. The Court said that the petitioner could derive any undue advantage or, for that matter, any advantage whatsoever from the discrepancy in her date of birth, as either way, the petitioner would qualify on the eligibility criterion in respect of age. There does not arise any question, thus, of any willful misrepresentation on her part.
The decision of the Court:
The Calcutta High Court, allowing the petition, held that the petitioner shall be permitted to have an interview with the concerned banks for the purpose of considering her candidature for the concerned posts.
Case Title: Reshmi Bhagat v. State of West Bengal & Ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya
Case No.: WPA No. 5442 of 2024
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Shanka Maiti
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Dipanjan Datta
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com
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