Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur

Simarjeet Kaur vs The State Of Rajasthan ... on 16 January, 2025

[2025:RJ-JD:2970]

       HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
                        JODHPUR
                    S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 769/2025

Simarjeet Kaur D/o Prithvipal Singh, Aged About 35 Years,
Village 27 Rb Tehsil Raisinghnagar District Sri Ganganagar.
                                                                         ----Petitioner
                                       Versus
1.        The State Of Rajasthan, Through Secretary, Department
          Of Medical And Health, Govt. Of Rajasthan, Secretariat,
          Rajasthan, Jaipur.
2.        The Director, State Health And Family Welfare Institute,
          Rajasthan, Jaipur.
                                                                    ----Respondents


For Petitioner(s)            :     Ms. Rajni Kaushik.
For Respondent(s)            :     Mr. Tanuj Jain for
                                   Mr. Mukesh Dave, Dy.G.C.


                HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MONGA

Order (Oral)

16/01/2025

1. Petitioner herein seeks appointment on the post of Nursing

Officer in OBC category pursuant to advertisement dated

05.05.2023.

2. Briefly speaking, relevant facts, as pleaded in the petition are

that the petitioner passed her secondary school examination in the

year 2003 and senior secondary in the year 2005 from the Board

of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, Ajmer. Thereafter, she

underwent a three year Diploma in Nursing from the Punjab

Nurses Registration Council and cleared the same in the year

2019. The Punjab Nurses Registration Council issued the

certificate dated 10.08.2022 to the petitioner.

2.1 Respondent No. 2 issued an advertisement on 05.05.2023,

announcing a total of 6,981 vacancies for the position of Nursing

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Officer. The petitioner, being eligible, submitted her application

within the specified time-frame.

2.2 On 25.09.2023, the petitioner submitted her application to

the Rajasthan Nursing Council and paid the required fees for the

issuance of a registration certificate. Subsequently, on

29.08.2023, Respondent No. 2 issued a notice for document

verification. During this process, the petitioner submitted an

affidavit stating her intention to provide the registration certificate

from the Rajasthan Nursing Council. However, on 07.10.2023,

Respondent No. 2 published the provisional list for the Nursing

Officer Recruitment, 2023, but the petitioner's name was omitted,

despite her marks being higher than those of the last selected

candidate.

2.2 The Rajasthan Nursing Council, issued the petitioner's

registration certificate on 13.01.2024, valid until 31.12.2028. The

petitioner raised her grievance with the competent authority, but

the same was not addressed, and Respondent No. 2 proceeded to

publish the final selection list on 06.12.2024. The cutoff marks for

the OBC (female) category were set at 66.922, while the

petitioner had achieved 71.140 marks, yet she was not selected.

Consequently, the petitioner has filed the present petition.

3. In the aforesaid backdrop, I have heard the rival contentions

of learned counsels appearing for respective parties.

4. Learned counsel for the respondent states that the certificate

of registration was issued on 13.01.2024 to the petitioner by the

Rajasthan Nursing Council and the last date for submission of the

registration certificate was same as that of the application form

i.e. 04.06.2023. It is thus clear that the petitioner, as on the date

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of submitting her application form, did not have the qualification

of registration certificate. Therefore, the registration certificate

being the necessary qualification, having been obtained after the

cut off date, candidature of petitioner cannot be entertained.

5. Petitioner's case essentially pivots on following two grounds:-

a). She possessed the necessary degree and qualifications

as of the cutoff date, i.e. 04.06.2023, as stated in the

advertisement, except the registration certificate issued

by Rajasthan Nursing Council.

b). The petitioner had already been registered with the

Punjab Nurses Registration Council as per certificate

dated 10.08.2022.

6. A careful examination of advertisement schedule reveals that

document verification was unequivocally set for 02.09.2023. The

petitioner, whose name appeared at serial No. 10698, was duly

invited to attend the verification process. However, despite her

reporting for the same on the assigned day, she was unable to

present the requisite registration certificate issued by the

Rajasthan Nursing Council at the time of document verification.

Though, she had a valid certificate issued by Punjab Nurses

Registration Council. As a consequence, she was deemed

ineligible, owing to her failure to produce the certificate on the

specified date.

7. In this context, reference may be had to a judgment

rendered by this Court in case titled Rajkumari Chahar Vs.

State of Rajasthan & Ors.: S.B. Civil Writ Petition

No.15010/2023. Relevant extract of the same is reproduced

hereinbelow:-

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9. As it happened, the petitioner was granted her registration certificate on 11.08.2023 and she promptly submitted it before the conclusion of the documents verification round. Despite this, her certificate was rejected on the pretext that she did not produce it on 10.08.2023. I find this approach by the respondents not only excessively pedantic, but also indicative of an unwarranted insistence on technicalities. Given their prior communication that document verification would extend until 16.08.2023, they ought not to have rejected the petitioner's certificate, which is otherwise undisputed. On that ground alone, the rejection of the petitioner's candidacy by the respondents is held to be invalid.

10. Pertinently, the advertisement clearly specifies that eligibility is determined based on qualifications i.e. academic qualifications. The registration of the certificate with Homeopathy Board of the state does not necessitate any additional examinations, entrance tests, or interviews. Therefore, registering after becoming a Homeopathy graduate should not be treated as an additional qualification but rather as a mere technical formality. The registration certificate cannot possibly be treated as a qualification.

Furthermore, to prevent unnecessary litigation, in future, a suggested amendment to the advertisement ought to be carried out, which should ordinarily include a clause stating that appointments will be provisional subject to the candidates producing the required registration certificate within a specified time frame of issuance of appointment letter. Failure to do so, would render their appointment invalid, and the opportunity would then be extended to the next meritorious candidate. This would avoid causing unnecessary distress to more meritorious candidates solely on technical grounds.

11. I may hasten to add here in case defense of respondents is to be upheld the same would also result in an incongruous situation where cut off date for producing documents will vary from candidate to candidate depending upon when they are called for verification of the same. Each documents verification day will then be cut off for some, while other would get undue advantage of being called later. As already stated, the advertisement clearly states that the eligibility is to be reckoned as per the qualifications, which appears to be the academic qualifications.

12. Reference may also be had to an earlier judgment of mine, which I had an occasion to render as a puisne judge in Punjab and Haryana High Court, dated 28.01.2022 titled as (Seema Vs. State of Haryana & Ors) in Civil Writ Petition No. 16902/2020. Relevant paras thereof are reproduced herein below-:

"7. It is pertinent to note that the petitioner completed her compulsory rotatory internship under the Indian Medical Council Act before she had applied in pursuance to the advertisement. After the internship, Haryana Medical Council had issued provisional certificate of registration on 26.03.2019 to the petitioner on her successfully qualifying MBBS examination on 27.12.2018. Issuance of provisional certificate to the petitioner vide no. P-9934 dated 26.03.2019 is not disputed. This registration certificate, no doubt, bears a recital that it is only valid for completion of internship for one year from the date of passing of MBBS examination and will not be used for any other purpose. However, no statutory provision has been brought to the notice of the court for any such restriction/prohibition on its use. Being so, the certificate (annexure P/2) of the petitioner's registration on 26.03.2019 with the Haryana medical council seems sufficient for her eligibility as on the cut-off date i.e. 22.01.2020 to apply for the post in question.

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8. As stated, the cut-off date of application for the post was 22.01.2020. The petitioner had applied to Delhi Medical council for the registration certificate five days prior thereto. In ordinary course, one is unable to comprehend as to why should the Medical Council sit over the application for grant of the registration when it simply appears to be a mere formality. Neither any merit of the candidate is to be determined before grant of such a certificate nor even otherwise the registration is an additional qualification of any kind which requires scrutiny of the candidate by the Council. In fact, the registration is granted more or less as a matter of right, that too ex-parte, merely by going through the contents of the application for registration form along with the requisite documents appended therewith. In fact, looking at the procedure and the manner in which the registration is granted, it rather seems fair and equitable to opine that once, the registration is accorded, for the purpose of determining eligibility to apply for the post of Medical Officer, it should enure from the date of the application itself and the mere formality of the date which is put on the certificate, is simply to be read as date of issuance of the certificate but in reality, effective from the date of applying under the requisite proforma of the application. In any case the petitioner should not suffer for the procedural delay on the part of the Medical Council in the grant of registration."

8. In view of the above, I am of the considered view that the

registration certificate constitutes a mere ministerial formality,

rather than a substantive qualification. No examination or

interview is conducted in this regard; instead, it is granted solely

based on the applicant's academic qualifications.

9. As an upshot, the petition is allowed. Consequently,

respondents are directed to consider the candidature of petitioner

in the category she applied. If otherwise found meritorious,

petitioner shall be offered appointment on the post in question,

with effect from the date as the other successful candidates who

applied pursuant to the same advertisement were given

appointment.