Bombay High Court
Shrikant Eknath Kachave vs The State Of Maharashtra And ... on 7 July, 2016
Bench: S.S. Shinde
1 wp12533-2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
WRIT PETITION NO. 12533 OF 2015
Shrikant s/o Eknath Kachave,
Age : 25 years, Occu. Student,
R/o Post Colony, Old Pedgaon Road,
Parbhani 431 401,
District Parbhani PETITIONER
VERSUS
1. The State of Maharashtra
2.
Chief General Manager (HR),
Maharashtra State Power Generation
Company Ltd.,
Estrellek Batteries Exansion Compound,
lst Floor, Plot No. 1, Dharavi Road,
Dharavi, Mumbai - 400 019
3. Executive Director (HR),
Maharashtra State Power Generation
Company Ltd., Prakashgad, 2nd Floor,
Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051
4. Institute of Banking Personnel
Selection, IBPS House, 90 feet,
D.P. Road, Near Thakur Polytechnic,
Off. Western Express Highway,
P.B. No. 8587, Kandivali (East),
Mumbai - 400 101 RESPONDENTS
----
Mr. V.D. Salunke, Advocate holding for Mr. Sachin V.
Kuptekar, Advocate for the Petitioner
Mr. V.H. Dighe, A.G.P. for respondent No. 1
Mr. A.M. Gaikwad, Advocate for respondent Nos. 2 to 4
----
CORAM : S.S. SHINDE AND
SANGITRAO S. PATIL, JJ.
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JUDGMENT RESERVED ON : 24th JUNE, 2016
JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON : 7th JULY, 2016
JUDGMENT (PER : SANGITRAO S. PATIL, J.) :
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and with
the consent of the learned counsel for the parties,
heard finally.
2. The disqualification of the petitioner for the
post of Technician-3 on the ground that he produced the
certificate of passing I.T.I. trade which was issued
after the last date for filing online application for
the said post, has been challenged in this petition.
3. Relying on the contents of the petition,
rejoinder and the documents produced on record, the
learned counsel for the petitioner submits that as per
the advertisement dated 20th August, 2014, respondent
No.2 invited online applications on or before 10 th
September, 2014 from the eligible candidates for the
post of Technician-3 through the website of the
Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited. On
that day, the petitioner was not possessing the passing
certificate in Electrician trade though he had appeared
3 wp12533-2015
for the All India Trade Test for Craftsmen Training
Scheme held in the month of July, 2014, conducted by the
Directorate of Vocational Education and Training,
Maharashtra State, Mumbai. Respondent No. 2 issued a
notification dated 10th September, 2014 and extended the
time for sending online applications for the above
mentioned post till 20th September, 2014. On the same
day, the petitioner received the National Trade
Certificate for having successfully completed the
training programme in Electrician trade. Since he
became eligible for the said post after receiving that
Trade Certificate, he sent online application for that
post on 20th September, 2014. Though the date of sending
applications through Online was extended till 20th
September, 2014, the consequential amendment was not
carried out in the application form by substituting the
date 20th September, 2014 for 10th September, 2014.
Therefore, the petitioner mentioned his date of passing
the Electrician trade as 10th September, 2014, whereon
his online application came to be accepted.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner further
submits that the petitioner scored highest 48 marks from
4 wp12533-2015
VJ-A category in Online Examination held on 16th
November, 2014. He was then called upon to produce his
documents of eligibility for verification on 22nd April,
2015. Accordingly, he produced all of his documents/
certificates for verification on 22 nd April, 2015.
Though the petitioner had obtained highest marks in the
online examination and was fulfilling all the
eligibility criterion for being selected for the post of
Technician-3, his name was not included in the final
select list dated 24th November, 2015. Respondent No. 2
published the list of unsuccessful candidates on 18 th
December, 2015 with the reasons for their respective
disqualifications. In that list, it was mentioned
against the number of the petitioner that he produced
the certificate of passing I.T.I. Trade Examination,
which was issued after the last date for sending Online
applications for the post of Technician-3.
5. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits
that the petitioner has been wrongly disqualified by
respondent No. 2 and has been wrongly deprived of the
opportunity to get appointed to the post of Technician-
3. He, therefore, prays that the said disqualification
5 wp12533-2015
may be quashed and set aside and the respondents may be
directed to consider the petitioner for being appointed
to the post of Technician-3 from VJ-A category.
6. Respondent Nos. 2 to 4 filed reply and opposed
the petition. On the strength of the averments made in
the said reply and the documents annexed thereto, the
learned counsel for respondent Nos. 2 to 4 submits that
though the date for receiving the online applications
was extended till 20th September, 2014, the date for
considering the eligibility of the candidates for the
post of Technician-3 was not extended. Therefore, it
was necessary for the petitioner to produce the passing
certificate of the Electrician trade that was issued on
10th September, 2014 or prior to that. He submits that
initially, certain trades were not included in the
advertisement. Therefore, as per the notification dated
9th September, 2014, the said trades were also held to be
eligible for the post of Technician-3 and in order to
extend necessary opportunity to the candidates having
passed the said trades, the date of sending applications
was extended to 20th September, 2014. However, the other
terms and conditions of the advertisement were
6 wp12533-2015
maintained as they were in respect of those candidates
also. He submits that the cut-off date for considering
the eligibility of the candidates was 10 th September,
2014. The petitioner submitted the passing certificate
of Electrician trade dated 20th September, 2014. The
learned counsel further submits that though the results
of the petitioner in respect of Electrician trade were
declared on 20th September, 2014, he mentioned the date
of having passed the examination of the said trade as
"10th September, 2014" in the column of technical details
in his application. He gave false information in
respect of date of passing the said trade. Therefore, he
was liable to be disqualified for the said post.
According to him, the petitioner has been rightly
disqualified for the post of Technician-3 since he was
not possessing the requisite educational qualification
of passing Electrician trade on 10th September, 2014.
He, therefore, prays that the writ petition may be
dismissed.
7. As seen from the advertisement, the last date
for sending online applications for the post of
Technician-3 was 10th September, 2014. Undisputedly, as
7 wp12533-2015
per the notification dated 10th September, 2014, the last
date for sending online applications was extended to 20 th
September, 2014. Certain instructions were given to the
candidates sending online applications for the post of
Technician-3. Under the caption "Other important
instructions to the candidates", at clause-15 of the
instructions, it is mentioned that for the post of
Technician-3, it is necessary that the educational
qualification and other papers/certificates of the
candidates should be valid till the last date of the
advertisement. The last date for sending online
applications was 10th September, 2014 as per the
advertisement. As per clause-14, under the same caption,
the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company reserved
its right to fully or partially cancel the selection
process or to make certain changes thereon. It seems
that in exercise of this right, respondent No.2 issued
notification dated 10th September, 2014 whereby the date
for sending online applications for the post of
Technician-3 was extended till 20th September, 2014. The
said notification reads as under :-
8 wp12533-2015
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The said notification in English would read thus :
MAHANIRMITI
Maharashtra State Power Generation Company
Limited
Date : 10.09.2014
NOTIFICATION - EXTENTION OF TIME
MAHANIRMITI ADVERTISEMENT NO. 04(Aug)/2014
In connection with Mahanirmiti
Advertisement No. 04 (Aug)/2014, published
for recruitment for the post of Technician-3,
it is informed to the candidates that in
pursuance of the sanction granted by the
competent authority, the last date for
sending online applications for the said post
has been extended till 20th September, 2014.
Sd/-
Chief General Manager (H.R.)
Mahanirmiti
9 wp12533-2015
8. From the contents of the above-mentioned
notification, it is clear that the last date for
receiving online applications as given in the
advertisement was extended till 20th September, 2014.
Therefore, in view of clause-15 of the above referred
instructions, it will be clear that the documents/
certificates pertaining to the requisite educational
qualifications of the candidates applied for the post of
Technician-3 were required to be valid till 20 th
September, 2014.
9. The learned counsel for respondent Nos. 2 to 4
points out to the notification dated 9th September, 2014,
issued in connection with the said advertisement by
respondent No. 2 whereby the candidates who had passed
the additional five trades, were informed that they
should possess the necessary training certificates
issued on or prior to 10th September, 2014. Therefore,
according to him, the extension of date for receiving
online applications from 10th September, 2014 to 20th
September, 2014 as per the notification dated 10 th
September, 2014 would not have the effect of extending
10 wp12533-2015
the date by which the training certificates were
required to be possessed by the candidates i.e. 10th
September, 2014. We are not inclined to accept this
contention. The notification dated 10th September, 2014
does not at all specify that the date for holding the
requisite training certificates would remain unchanged
i.e. 10th September, 2014, even if the date for receiving
online applications is extended till 20 th September,
2014. Therefore, whatever is not specifically mentioned
in the notification dated 10th September, 2014, cannot at
all be read therein to indicate that the date for
possessing the necessary certificate regarding
educational qualification was 10th September, 2014 only.
10. In the advertisement, there is no specific
mention that the candidate should have acquired the
educational qualification on or before 10th September,
2014. When the date for sending online applications for
the post of Technician-3 was extended from 10 th
September, 2014 to 20th September, 2014, the natural
consequence would be extension of the date of acquiring
the educational qualification till the last date of
sending online application. In the circumstances, we
11 wp12533-2015
hold that the date of possessing the requisite
educational qualification for the post of Technician-3
would be 20th September, 2014 only i.e. the last date for
sending online applications for the said post.
11. When the date for sending online application
was extended by respondent No. 2 as per the notification
dated 10th September, 2014, it was necessary to make
necessary changes in the column of "Technical Details"
so as to substitute the date 20 th September, 2014 for 10th
September, 2014. However, no such change was made in
the online application form. There is no explanation
coming from the side of the respondents as to what was
the rationale behind keeping the said date unchanged in
the online application form though the last date for
sending application was extended to 20th September, 2014.
No special reason has been assigned by the respondents
for maintaining the last date for holding requisite
educational qualification on 10th September, 2014 only.
As seen from the certificate of the petitioner, he had
completed the training programme in Electrician trade
and appeared for the All India Trade Test held in the
month of July, 2014, the result of which was declared on
12 wp12533-2015
20th September, 2014. He obtained 477 marks out of 700.
The petitioner was possessing the passing certificate in
Electrician trade on 20th September, 2014. Therefore, he
was eligible for the post of Technician-3 on that date,
which was the last date for sending online applications.
12. The last date for possessing the requisite
educational qualification in the online application form
ought to have been changed since the said date was
extended till 20th
ig September, 2014 as per the
notification dated 10th September, 2014. The petitioner
cannot be said to have intentionally given false
information in the online application, showing his date
of passing the Electrician trade as 10th September, 2014,
since he could not have sent his application by
mentioning the date of passing the requisite trade as
20th September, 2014 as the computer system would not
have accepted his application. Moreover, he has not been
disqualified for the reason that he mentioned false
information in his online application.
13. As stated above, the only reason given in the
list dated 18th December, 2015, published by respondent
No. 2, for disqualification of the petitioner is that
13 wp12533-2015
his Electrician trade passing certificate was issued
after the last date for sending online application. We
have already clarified that the last date of sending
online application was 20th September, 2014. As such, on
that date, the petitioner was qualified for the post of
Technician-3.
14. In the above facts and circumstances of the
case and in view of above discussion, we pass the
following order :-
(i) The decision of respondent No. 2 recorded in
the list, published on 18th December, 2015,
holding the petitioner as disqualified for the
post of Technician-3, is quashed and set aside.
(ii) The respondents are directed to re-consider the
candidature of the petitioner for the post of
Technician-3 from VJ-A category, on its own
merits and if he is found suitable for the post
of Technician-3, to re-consider him for being
appointed to that post without disqualifying
him on the ground which has been mentioned
against his name in the list published on 18th
14 wp12533-2015
December, 2015 or on the ground that he
furnished false information as to the date of
passing the Electrician trade.
(iii) Rule is made absolute accordingly.
(iv) The Writ Petition is disposed of with no costs.
Sd/- Sd/-
[SANGITRAO S. PATIL] [S.S. SHINDE]
JUDGE ig JUDGE
npj/wp12533-2015
