Reserved On 27.07.202 vs Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection ...
2021 Latest Caselaw 3493 HP

IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA

CWP No. 3842 of 2021 Reserved on 27.07.2021 Decided on: 04.08.2021.

__________________________________________________________ Gulshan Kumar ..Petitioner

.

Versus

Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission

and others ...Respondents __________________________________________________________ Coram The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge

1Whether approved for reporting? Yes to The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Satyen Vaidya, Judge

__________________________________________________________ For the petitioner

: Mr, Aditya Kaushal, Advocate

For the respondents : Mr. Angrez Kapoor, Advocate, for respondent No.1.

Mr. Ashok Sharma, Advocate General, with Mr. Vinod

Thakur, Mr. Shiv Pal Manhans, Mr. Hemanshu Misra, Addl.

A.Gs., Mr. J.S. Guleria and Mr. Bhupinder Thakur, Dy. A.Gs.,

for respondent No.2.

__________________________________________________________

Satyen Vaidya, Judge Petitioner has filed the instant petition seeking

following substantive reliefs: -

"(i) To quash and set aside Annexure P-9 i.e. notice for information dated 01.06.2021 qua petitioner whereby the candidature of the petitioner was kept on hold for producing registration certificate, ignoring the fact that the same has already been submitted by the petitioner at the time of the evaluation process.

Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

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(ii) To direct the respondents to give appointment to the petitioner for the post of Medical Laboratory Technician Grade-II (post code 776) in the facts and circumstances of the case

.

(iii) To direct the respondents to keep Annexure P-

10 dated 18.06.2021 in abeyance till the final outcome of the present writ petition and further not give appointment to any candidate as per

Annexure P-10."

CASE OF PETITIONER:

2. The facts as alleged in the petition are that

respondent No.1 issued Advertisement No.36-1/2020 on

02.03.2020, for selection to different categories of posts.

One of such post being of Medical Laboratory Technician

Grade-II in the Health and Family Welfare Department,

Government of Himachal Pradesh. Total 154 numbers of

posts in this category were advertised, out of which, 31

posts were for Scheduled Caste (UR) Category. Minimum

qualification prescribed for the said post was as under: -

"i) 10+2 in Science from a recognized board of School Education.

ii. B.Sc. Medical Laboratory Technology/ B.Sc. Medical Technology Laboratory/B.Sc. Medical Technology (Laboratory)/B.Sc. Medical Laboratory Sciences/B.Sc. in Medical Laboratory Technology (Lateral) from a recognized University or an Institution affiliated to a recognized University.

iii) Should be registered with the Himachal Pradesh Para Medical Council for the above qualification."

3. As per petitioner, he was having all the

qualifications for the post of Medical Laboratory Technician

Grade-II. Petitioner had passed his 10+2 examination in

.

2015. He had also passed B.Sc. in Medical Technology

(Laboratory) from Chandigarh University in May, 2018.

Petitioner further claimed to have registered himself with

H.P. Para Medical Council ("Council" for brevity) on

02.11.2020.

4. In response to above noted advertisement,

petitioner applied for the post of Medical Laboratory

Technician Grade-II within stipulated time period.

Extended last date for submission of the application was

dated 05.06.2020. Petitioner appeared in the written

examination conducted on dated 29.11.2020 under Roll

No.776000349. He scored 33 marks in the written

examination. On 03.03.2021, petitioner received

communication from respondent No.1 informing him that

he had found place in the list of short-listed candidates for

undertaking the evaluation process to be held on

12.03.2021. Petitioner was required to bring original

documents with attested copies.

5. Petitioner appeared with all requisite certificates

along with registration certificate issued by respondent

No.3 on the date of evaluation and submitted all the

.

documents.

6. On dated 20.05.2021, respondent No.1 declared

a list of 86 successful candidates, however, the name of

petitioner was not included therein. Since certain

representations were received by respondent No.1 raising

issues of registration with respondent No.1, result was kept

on hold and was finally published on 18.6.2021. Total 91

candidates were declared successful. Petitioner did not find

his name in the list of successful candidates. In response

to his application under Right to Information Act, he

received communication dated 25.06.2021, Annexure P-11,

from respondent No.3 with following remarks:

"You have failed to produce the certificates of essential qualification as prescribed in the R & P rules for the post i.e. registration with H.P. Para

Medical Council valid as on the last date fixed for receipt of online application i.e. 05.06.2020 as mentioned in the advertisement".

                                       -    5-

    CASE OF RESPONDENTS:

7. Learned Counsel for respondent No.1 at the

time of hearing has reiterated the stand of said respondent

.

as taken in letter dated 25.06.2021, Annexure P-11.

8. We have heard learned counsel for the parties

and have also gone through the records of the case

carefully.

ANALYSIS:

9. As per petitioner he had submitted registration

certificate dated 02.11.2020 (Annexure P-2), issued by

respondent No.3. This being so, question that arises for

determination is whether the submission of aforesaid

document on the date of evaluation was sufficient

compliance with the terms of advertisement?

10. It is not the case of petitioner that he was

registered with respondent No.3 before the last date of

submission of online applications as provided in

advertisement No.36-1/2020 dated 02.03.2020 issued by

respondent No.1. His registration with respondent No.3,

undisputedly, is dated 02.11.2020.

11. At this juncture, we deem it proper to notice

relevant terms of the advertisement dated 02.03.2020,

which are as under: -

.

"5.IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING UP ONLINE APPLICATIONS:

1. to 3. Xxx xxx xxx

4. The candidates must ensure their eligibility in respect of category, experience, age and essential qualification(s), etc., as mentioned against each post

in the advertisement to avoid rejection at later stage.

5. & 6. Xxx xxx xxx

7. The candidate should possess requisite

essential qualification(s) prescribed for the post(s) for which he/she wants to apply as on closing date

fixed for submission of Online Recruitment Applications (ORA).

11. SUBMISSION OF CERTIFICATES/ DOCUMENTS.

The download/printed copy of the Online Application Form alongwith necessary original

certificates and self attested photocopies will have to be produced at the time of evaluation. No offline Application Form will be accepted by

the office.

13. ELIGBILITY CONDITIONS: -

(i). The date of determining the eligibility of all candidates in terms of Essential Qualifications, experience etc., shall be reckoned as on the closing date for submitting the Online Recruitment Applications (ORA).

               (ii)   xxx         xxx                           xxx





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(iii) Onus of proving that a candidate has acquired requisite degree/essential qualifications by the stipulated date is on the candidate and in the absence of proof the date as mentioned on the face of certificate/degree

.

or the date of issue of certificate/degree shall

be taken as date of acquiring essential qualification."

12. The essential conditions of advertisement, as

noted above, leaves no room for doubt that the date of

determining the eligibility of all candidates in terms of

Essential Qualification, experience, was to be reckoned as

on closing date for submitting the Online Recruitment

Applications (ORA) i.e. 05.06.2020. Admittedly, registration

with H.P. Para Medical Council was one of the prescribed

minimum essential qualifications.

CONCLUSION:

13. From the above discussion, we have no

hesitation to conclude that petitioner did not possess the

requisite minimum qualification of registration with H.P.

Para Medical Council on 05.06.2021 i.e. the last date of

submission of online recruitment applications.

14. Petitioner, though, has made a cursory

reference to lockdown employed in the Country in March,

2020 and his inability to visit Shimla for the purposes of

registration with respondent No.3, but the same cannot be

held sufficient to serve the cause of petitioner for the

reason that firstly there is no explanation as to why

.

petitioner had not registered himself since May 2018, when

he had passed his B.Sc. examination in Medical

Technology (laboratory), secondly it has further not been

explained, once unlock process was initiated, why

petitioner did not take any step to represent his case before

respondent No.1 and lastly petitioner did not submit any

representation before respondent No.1, when opportunity

was afforded by said respondent as evident from

communication dated 01.06.2021, Annexure P-9. In such

situation, petitioner cannot be held entitled to any relief in

this petition.

15. It is no more res-integra that non-submission of

requisite certificates by a candidate in accordance with

requirement of Advertisement is sufficient ground to reject

his candidature. Reference can be made to the judgment

dated 08.10.2020 passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this

Court in CWP No. 4276 of 2020, titled Monika Koti vs. H.P.

Public Service Commission, wherein identical proposition

has been dealt with by placing reliance on the judgments

passed by Hon'ble Apex Court in Bedanga Talukdar vs.

Saifudaullah Khan and others (2011) 12 SCC 85 and

Karnataka State Seeds Development Corporation Ltd. and

.

Another vs. H.L. Kaveri and others, 2020(3) SCC 108. 6.

Recently, in writ petition (C) No. 571 of 2021, titled Deepak

Yadav and others vs. Union Public Service Commission

and Another, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has again

reiterated the aforesaid legal position.

16. The rejection of the candidature of the

petitioner by respondent No.1, thus, cannot be faulted.

The petition is accordingly dismissed, so also the pending

miscellaneous application(s), if any.

(Tarlok Singh Chauhan) Judge

(Satyen Vaidya) Judge

4th August, 2021.

(tarun)