Priyanka Kumari vs The State Of Bihar
2022 Latest Caselaw 4359 Patna

         IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                 Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.25349 of 2019
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Priyanka Kumari Daughter of Sri Yogendra Sah Resident of Village-Karhatia Buzurg, P.S.-Goraul, District-Vaishali.

... ... Petitioner Versus

1. The State of Bihar through the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, Patna.

2. Bihar Public Service Commission, through the Chairman, 15, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Bailey Road, Patna-800001

3. The Chairman, Bihar Public Service Commission, 15, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Bailey Road, Patna-800001

4. The Joint Secretary Cum Examination Controller, Bihar Public Service Commission, 15, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Bailey Road, Patna-800001

5. The Patna High Court, Patna, through its Registrar General, Bailey Road, Patna-800001

6. Varsha Kumari Female, Roll No.-121207 through the Chairman, Bihar Public Service Commission, 15, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Bailey Road, Patna-800001.

... ... Respondents

====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Rajnikant Singh, Advocate For the Respondent-BPSC : Mr. Ratnesh Kumar Singh, Advocate For the Respondent PHC : Mr. Piyush Lall, Advocate ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAILENDRA SINGH ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH)

Date : 08-08-2022

In the present writ application, the petitioner has

made a prayer to direct the respondents to declare her as a

successful candidate in the final result of 30 th Bihar Judicial Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

Services Competitive Examination, 2018 in the Extremely

Backward Class (EBC).

2. The case of the petitioner is that pursuant to the

Advertisement No. 06 of 2018 inviting application from eligible

candidates for appointment against 349 posts of Civil Judge

(Junior Division), the petitioner being eligible, applied in the

EBC (Female) category. The advertisement clearly stipulated

that 73 posts were reserved for candidates belonging to the EBC

category. After the submission of the application, the

respondents released admit card and she appeared in the 30th

Bihar Judicial Services Preliminary Competitive Examination

held on 27.11.2018 and qualified in the test. After qualifying the

preliminary test, she received admit card for the Main (Written)

Examination. She appeared in the Main (Written) Examination

which was held from 07.06.2019 to 12.06.2019. Since she had

obtained 443 marks in the Main (Written) Examination, she was

declared qualified for interview. She appeared in the interview

on 16.11.2019 and obtained 65 marks. Thus, she got 508 marks

in the final cumulative result of the Main (Written) Examination

and interview.

3. On the date of interview, she was informed that the

caste certificate submitted by her is not in the prescribed Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

manner. Though she had submitted the caste certificate along

with her income certificate and residence certificate issued by

the State Government, the respondent-Bihar Public Service

Commission (for short 'BPSC') did not consider the same to be

in proper form. The petitioner also sent the EBC (Non Creamy

Layer) Certificate issued for the purpose of appointment to the

posts under the Government of India along with an application

through e-mail on both e-mail IDs of the respondents on

16.11.2019 and 23.11.2019 respectively. After getting no

response from the respondents, she sent the EBC (Non Creamy

Layer) Certificate issued by the State Government for the

purpose of appointment to the posts under the Government of

India along with an application through speed post on

25.11.2019. She got the (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate issued

by the Government of Bihar in the prescribed manner on

26.11.2019. Thereafter, she sent the same through e-mail

on 26.11.2019 itself and also sent through speed post to the

BPSC on 27.11.2019. The respondent-BPSC without

considering the case of the petitioner and the application filed

by the petitioner, published the final result of the 30th Bihar

Judicial Services Competitive Examination, 2018 on

29.11.2019. In the final result, the name of the petitioner was Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

not found in the list of successful candidates even though she

had obtained 508 marks in total and the cut off marks under the

EBC category was less than 508 marks.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that

the petitioner has been discriminated by the respondents. She

has wrongly been left out from the list of successful candidates.

The EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate produced by the

petitioner was issued by the State of Bihar and should have been

relied upon by the respondents. He contended that it is not the

case where the petitioner was not in possession of EBC (Non

Creamy Layer) Certificate. The criteria for the EBC (Non

Creamy Layer) in case of Central Government and State

Government is the same i.e. the income of the family of the

candidates should be less than Rs. 5 lacs per annum. The

respondents have illegally not accepted the certificate of the

petitioner. According to him, the action of the respondents in not

appointing the petitioner to the post of Civil Judge (Junior

Division) in EBC category is illegal, arbitrary and violative of

Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

5. Respondent-BPSC has filed its counter affidavit

and supplementary counter affidavit in the present matter.

6. It would appear from the counter affidavit and Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

supplementary counter affidavit filed by the respondent-BPSC

that contention of the BPSC is that pursuant to the

advertisement, the petitioner had submitted her online

application in the EBC (Female) category. The BPSC initiated

the process of selection and conducted the preliminary test on

27.11.2018 and 28.11.2018 in which 17610 candidates including

the petitioner appeared. The BPSC published the result of

preliminary test on 07.01.2019 in which 1100 candidates were

declared successful including the petitioner. Thereafter, the

BPSC made advertisement for the Main (Written) Examination

on 12.01.2019. In Clause 8 of the said advertisement, it was

clearly instructed that candidates must enclose self attested

copies of the certificates including the character certificate with

the hard copy of the application form. Subsequently, the BPSC

published additional result of successful candidates on

27.03.2019 in the light of the order passed in W.P. (C) No. 71 of

2019 by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Thus, the total number of

successful candidates became 3704. The BPSC published an

important notice on 29.03.2019 extending the date of filling of

application form till 17.04.2019 for the Main (Written)

Examination in view of the additional result of 2604 successful

candidates. The date of filling up of application form was Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

further extended till 15.05.2019. Pursuant to the said

advertisement, the petitioner submitted her application form for

the Main (Written) Examination which was held from

07.06.2019 to 12.06.2019. She appeared in the Main (Written)

Examination. The result of the examination was published on

05.10.2019. Altogether 1080 candidates including the petitioner

were declared successful in the examination and were called for

interview. On 15.10.2019, the BPSC published the interview

programme of 1080 successful candidates which was scheduled

from 21.10.2019 to 27.11.2019. The petitioner was called for

interview on 16.11.2019. In Clause 3 of the interview

programme, it was clearly stated that the candidates must bring

original certificates for verification as stated in the original

advertisement and interview letter along with two self attested

copies of the same on the date of interview including the

character certificate issued by the college/university where the

candidate last studied and in case on the date of interview any

candidate does not produce the original certificates, then no

further time would be given for the same and the BPSC would

be free to take appropriate decision with regard to the eligibility

of such candidates. It was also mentioned in Clause 7 of the said

interview programme that the candidature of the candidates Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

called for interview is fully provisional and only appearance in

the interview does not confirm the candidature of the candidate.

The aforesaid stipulations were also mentioned in Clause 6 of

the interview letter.

7. The further contention of the BPSC is that when

the petitioner appeared in the interview on 26.11.2019, she did

not produce her original caste certificate for verification. This

requirement was clearly mentioned in Clause 3(iv) of the

interview programme and the interview letter but the petitioner

failed to produce the same for verification. Since the petitioner

failed to submit her original caste certificate for verification, her

candidature was considered in unreserved category. As she had

secured 508 marks, which is less than the cut off marks 517 for

the unreserved category, she did not come under the zone of

selection.

8. Mr. Ratnesh Kumar Singh, learned counsel

appearing for the BPSC submitted that the BPSC has rightly

cancelled the candidature of the petitioner in the EBC category

due to non submission of the required certificate i.e. the original

EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate at the time of interview

for verification.

9. Mr. Piyush Lal, learned counsel appearing for the Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

respondent no. 5 Patna High Court submitted that it would be

evident from the averments made in the writ petition and the

documents submitted in support thereof that the petitioner did

not have the EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate at the time of

submission of the application form on 09.10.2018. She had

filled up the date on her Non Creamy Layer Certificate (for BC

& EBC) in her application as 19.09.2018, but no document was

uploaded with the application. She has annexed the EBC (Non

Creamy Layer) Certificate dated 26.11.2019, caste certificate

dated 08.08.2017 and the caste certificate dated 19.09.2018,

which were annexed as Annexure-5 series to the writ

application. It would be evident from the interview letter that

the petitioner was called for an interview on 16.11.2019. Clause-

3 of the interview letter required the petitioner to produce

original certificates for verification. It would be evident from

the application dated 16.11.2019 submitted by the petitioner

which has been brought as Annexure-G to the counter affidavit

filed by the BPSC that she did not produce the EBC (Non

Creamy Layer) Certificate along with the application dated

16.11.2019. Further, from the e-mail sent at 08:04 PM on

16.11.2019 by the petitioner which has been brought on record

as Annexure-7 to the writ application, it would be evident that Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

the petitioner did not submit her EBC (Non Creamy Layer)

Certificate earlier. Annexure-7 to the writ application would

further reveal that the petitioner has clearly admitted that she

had not submitted the EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate on

16.11.2019, the date on which she had appeared for the

interview.

10. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and

carefully perused the records.

11. It would be pertinent to note here that on

23.08.2018, BPSC had published the advertisement inviting

online application from suitable candidates for appointment to

the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) through the 30 th Bihar

Judicial Services Competitive Examination. There were

mandatory conditions mentioned in Clauses 5(iii) and (iv), 9, 10

and 11 of the advertisement regarding possession of all relevant

certificates at the time of filling of application and production of

same at the time of interview. The petitioner submitted her

online application against said advertisement on 09.10.2018. At

that time she did not possess the Caste-cum-Non Creamy Layer

Certificate. Though, she had filled date of her EBC (Non

Creamy Layer) Certificate in the application as 19.09.2018, no

document was uploaded by her with the application. She has Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

annexed the EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate dated

26.11.2019 in the writ application, which has been marked as

Annexure-5.

12. Admittedly, the petitioner was called for interview

on 16.11.2019. Apart from the stipulations in the advertisement,

clause 3 of the interview letter required the petitioner to produce

original certificates for verification. It would be evident from

the application dated 16.11.2019 duly filled and signed by the

petitioner, which has been brought on record as Annexure-G to

the counter affidavit filed by the BPSC that she was not in

possession of EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate on

16.11.2019, when she appeared for interview. It would further

be evident from Annexure-7 of the writ application that the

petitioner did not produce the EBC (Non Creamy Layer)

Certificate at the time of interview.

13. Moreover, Annexure-5 would make it clear that

EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate was issued to the

petitioner by the State of Bihar on 26.11.2019 i.e., ten days after

she appeared for interview.

14. There is no dispute to the fact that clause 3 of the

interview programme clearly stipulates that the candidates must

bring original certificate for verification as stated in the original Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

advertisement and on the date of interview if any candidate does

not produce the said original certificate then no further time

would be given for the same and the BPSC would be free to

take appropriate decision with regard to the eligibility of such

candidates. It was also clearly mentioned in Clause 7 of the said

interview programme that the candidature of the candidates

called for interview is fully provisional and only appearance in

the interview does not confirm the candidature of the candidate.

It also stands admitted from the record that when the petitioner

appeared in the interview on 16.11.2019, she did not produce

her original caste certificate for verification at the time of

interview.

15. Having noticed the indisputable facts in the present

case, we must observe that when the BPSC had issued an

advertisement and prescribed that candidates must possess all

relevant certificates at the time of filling of application and

production of the same at the time of interview, that condition

must be given effect to. Any certificate which was not in

possession of the candidate at the time of the application ought

to be rejected by the BPSC. If the document certifying a

candidate to be in EBC (Non Creamy Layer) under the reserved

category was in possession of the candidate, but the same was Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

not produced in original at the time of interview that would also

be a ground for not considering a candidate in the reserved

category. A candidate cannot claim as a matter of right

relaxation of the conditions incorporated in the advertisement.

16. The Supreme Court in Bedanga Talukdar v.

Saifudaullah Khan and Others, since reported in AIR 2012

SC 1803 observed as under:

"It is too well settled to need any further reiteration that all appointments to public office have to be made in conformity with Article 14 of the Constitution of India. In other words, there must be no arbitrariness resulting from any undue favour being shown to any candidate. Therefore, the selection process has to be conducted strictly in accordance with the stipulated selection procedure. Consequently, when a particular schedule is mentioned in an advertisement; the same has to be scrupulously maintained. There cannot be any relaxation in the terms and conditions of the advertisement unless such a power is specifically reserved. Such a power could be reserved in the relevant Statutory Rules. Even if power of relaxation is provided in the rules, it must be mentioned in the advertisement. In the absence of such powers in the Rules, it could still be provided in the advertisement: However, power of relaxation, if exercised has to be given due Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

publicity. This would be necessary to ensure that those candidates, who become eligible due to relaxation, are afforded an equal opportunity to apply and compete. Relaxation of any condition in advertisement without due publication would be contrary to the mandate of quality contained in Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India".

17. In the instant case, when the advertisement for the

posts clearly stipulated for possession of the original caste

certificate at the time of filling up the form in a proper format

and the petitioner did not possess the same, it would have been

sufficient ground for rejection of her candidature in the EBC

category. The next illegality committed by the petitioner was a

wrong information given by her in the application form dated

09.10.2018 wherein she had mentioned the date of her EBC

(Non Creamy Layer) Certificate as 19.09.2018 and did not

upload any document in support of it. The said certificate dated

19.09.2018 is simply a caste certificate. The candidature of the

candidate in the EBC category could have been rejected on this

ground also. Another ground for the rejection of the candidature

of the petitioner in the EBC category is that she failed to

produce the original EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate at the

time of interview on 16.11.2019, which was mandatorily Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022

required in terms of the stipulations made in the advertisement

for the posts as well as the interview letter. The subsequent

submission of the EBC (Non Creamy Layer) Certificate dated

26.11.2019 issued by the competent authority of the State

Government in the proper format cannot confer any right to the

petitioner to be considered as a successful candidate in the EBC

category in the absence of any provision for relaxation in this

regard in the Statutory Rules.

18. For the reasons stated above, the candidature of the

petitioner was rightly considered in the unreserved category by

the BPSC. As she had secured 508 marks, which was far less

than the cut off marks 517 in the unreserved category. Thus, she

was rightly not declared as successful in the final result of 30th

Bihar Judicial Services Competitive Examination, 2018.

19. Under the circumstances noted above, no relief can

be granted to the petitioner in the present writ application.

20. The writ application is, accordingly, dismissed.

(Ashwani Kumar Singh, J)

( Shailendra Singh, J) rohit/-

AFR/NAFR                NAFR
CAV DATE                NA
Uploading Date          08-08-2022
Transmission Date       NA

Patna High Court CWJC No.25349 of 2019 dt.08-08-2022