Delhi High Court
Lilesh Kumar Tiwari And Ors vs Sashastra Seema Bal And Anr on 18 October, 2023
$~76
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Judgment delivered on: 18.10.2023
+ W.P.(C) 13740/2023 & CM. APPL. 54284-85/2023
LILESH KUMAR TIWARI AND ORS. ..... Petitioner
Versus
SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL AND ANR. ..... Respondents
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Ajay Garg, Ms. Tripti Gola, Ms. Lhingdeihat
Chongloi and Mr. Arvind Sardana, Advocates.
For the Respondents: Mr. Farman Ali Magrey, Senior Panel Counsel for UOI
with Usha Jamnal and Mr. Krishan Kumar, Advocate.
CORAM:-
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV SACHDEVA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ JAIN
JUDGMENT
SANJEEV SACHDEVA, J. (ORAL)
1. Petitioners seek quashing of the rejection of the candidature of
the petitioners, who had applied for recruitment to the post of
Constable (Driver) in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
2. Respondents had issued an advertisement dated 29.08.2020
advertising vacancies in 16 categories of Constables in the SSB. The
concerned category with which the petitioners are concerned is the
category of Constable (Driver) for male only.
3. The advertisement stipulates that candidates must fulfil all the
eligibility conditions for the applied post and should be in possession
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:19.10.2023
15:44:27
of all certificates as on the last date of the application i.e. 30 days
from the date of publication of the advertisement in the Employment
News. It is an admitted position that the last date for making an
application was 27.09.2020 and all the petitioners submitted their
applications prior to the said date.
4. The eligibility conditions for the post of Constable (Driver)
were two-fold; (i) matriculation or equivalent from a recognized
Board (ii) must possess a valid heavy vehicle Driving License.
5. In terms of the eligibility conditions read with the stipulated
date of application, it was mandatory that all candidates who apply for
the said post must inter alia possess a valid heavy vehicle Driving
License as on the closing date of the receipt of the application i.e.
27.09.2020.
6. Candidature of the petitioners has been rejected on the ground
that they failed to produce a valid heavy vehicle Driving License
which was possessed by them prior to the closing date i.e. 27.09.2020.
7. The petition gives the various dates on which the Driving
License was issued to each of the petitioner. We notice that the
Driving License was obtained by petitioner No.2 on 30.09.2020 and
others had obtained it after October, 2020 and as late as on
04.04.2020. For the sake of completion, the table given by the
petitioners in their petition is extracted hereinbelow:-
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:19.10.2023
15:44:27
S. Name Roll No. Date of License Learner's Permanent
No. filing the Applied Driving Driving
application on License License
1 Lilesh Kumar 1070207842 25.09.2020 -- -- 12.10.2020
Tiwari to
11.10.2025
2 Pushkar Mal 1070610656 09.09.2020 -- -- 30.09.2020
Phamra to
29.09.2025
3 Rinku Baghel 1070805478 12.09.2020 14.09.2020 -- 11.11.2020
to
10.11.2025
4 Ashok Kumar 1070505658 04.09.2020 -- 04.11.2019 19.11.2020
Verma to
to 18.11.2025
03.05.2020
5 Sandeep 1070801368 -- -- -- 24.11.2020
Solanki to
23.11.2025
6 Rakesh 1070514156 02.09.2020 -- 18/08/2020 24.11.2020
Kumar to to
Rathor 17/02/2021 23.11.2025
7 Buddhi 1070613976 23.09.2020 -- -- 25.11.2020
Prakash to
Swami 24.11.2025
8 Sandeep 1070614668 21.09.2020 23.092020 10.10.2019 18.12.2020
Kumar to to
09.04.2020 17.12.2025
9 Himanshu 1070801053 -- -- -- 29.12.2020
Sharma to
28.12.2025
10 Sumit 1070800933 -- 04.01.2021 -- 09.01.2021
Chaudhary to
08.01.2026
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:19.10.2023
15:44:27
11 Deepak 1070508014 -- -- -- 14.03.2021
Kalawat to
13.03.2026
12 Sanjay 1070601491 29.08.2020 -- 30.09.2020 18.03.2021
Kumar Jatav to to
29.03.2021 17.03.2026
13 Niranjan 1070604553 10.09.2020 10.08.2021 -- 14.10.2021
Singh to
13.10.2026
14 Bheem Singh 1070514587 27.09.2020 -- -- 16.12.2021
Jatav to
15.12.2026
15 Ravinder 1070613798 14.09.2020 -- -- 04.04.2022
Singh Rathor to
03.04.2027
8. Clearly from the own showing of the petitioners, none of the
petitioners possessed a valid heavy vehicle Driving License as on the
last date of making the application i.e. 27.09.2020.
9. Since the advertisement mandated that as on the closing date of
application, candidate must possess a valid heavy vehicle Driving
License, the application of the petitioners who obtained a License
after the closing date has rightly been rejected by the respondents on
the ground that they did not satisfy the eligibility condition as on the
crucial date.
10. We find no merit in the contention of learned counsel for
petitioners that on account of COVID, extension should have been
granted to the petitioners to enable them to apply for a License. The
eligibility condition was very categorical and required holding of a
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:19.10.2023
15:44:27
valid heavy vehicle Driving License as on the last date of submitting
an application. Petitioners never approached any court of law
impugning the eligibility condition. Further, there may be several
other individuals who noticing the eligibility condition failed to apply.
Since the eligibility conditions prescribed by the Department are
sacrosanct, this Court would not interfere with the eligibility
condition, particularly, after a candidate has already participated in the
selection process and has been rejected on the ground that he does not
satisfy the requisite eligibility condition.
11. In view of the above, we find that no error has been committed
by the respondents in rejecting the candidature of the petitioners on
the ground that they did not satisfy the mandatory eligibility condition
as required by the subject advertisement.
12. Accordingly, we do not find any merit in the petition. Petition
is consequently dismissed.
SANJEEV SACHDEVA, J
MANOJ JAIN, J
OCTOBER 18, 2023/NA
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:19.10.2023
15:44:27
