Uttarakhand High Court
Abida Anjum vs The Chairman on 28 July, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT
NAINITAL
THE CHIEF JUSTICE SHRI VIPIN SANGHI
AND
JUSTICE SHRI RAMESH CHANDRA KHULBE
Writ Petition (S/B) No.406 OF 2022
28TH JULY, 2022
Abida Anjum ...... Petitioner
Vs.
The Chairman, U.K. Public Service Commission and another
...... Respondents
Presence: -
Shri Aditya Pratap Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Shri Ashish Joshi, learned Standing Counsel for the
respondent no.2-Commission.
JUDGMENT: (Per Shri Vipin Sanghi, Chief Justice)
Learned counsel for the respondent-
Commission has tendered in the Court, today, the
instructions received by him from the Department which
are taken on record.
2. As we have already noticed in our last order
dated 20.07.2022, the candidature of the petitioner for
participation in the Mains Examination has been rejected
on the ground that the OBC certificate submitted by her is
of a date later than 20.01.2022, and not of a date prior to
20.01.2022. The instructions reported by the learned
counsel for the respondent-Commission is that upon
rejection of petitioner's candidature on 21.6.2022, she
could submit her representation up to 12.7.2022,
however, that was not done, and she submitted her
representation on 15.7.2022. Since that representation
was not responded to, the petitioner has preferred this
petition.
3. It is pertinent to note that the instructions
reported by the respondent-Commission acknowledge the
fact that the OBC certificate provided by the petitioner
dated 22.01.2022 (mentioned in instructions as
20.01.2022) is valid. Pertinently, the petitioner, upon
being told that the OBC certificate should be of a date
prior to the last date for submission of on-line application,
thereafter submitted the older OBC certificate dated
18.10.2019. The respondents have, however, not
considered the same. The reason for non-consideration of
petitioner's representation is that the same was late by
three days.
4. In our view, the stand taken by the
respondents, firstly with regard to the date-that the OBC
certificate should be of a prior date, appears to be
completely illogical and arbitrary. An OBC certificate,
which is issued at a later date, is a more reliable
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certificate as it is possible that the candidate may have
come into the creamy layer and may not be entitled to
grant of reservation. A person who submits an older OBC
certificate is more suspect to have moved into the creamy
layer than a candidate who submits a later dated
certificated. There is no rationale as to why the
respondents should insist that the OBC certificate should
be of a date prior to the date of last date of submission of
on-line application form, when the submission of OBC
certificate itself is required to be made at a later date.
5. Secondly, it is not that the petitioner did not
submit the OBC certificate of a prior date. As aforesaid,
the petitioner submitted the OBC certificate dated
18.10.2019 as well. Merely because the same was
submitted three days after the date fixed for submission
of representation, is not sufficient enough to not to
consider the petitioner's representation. The respondents
are expected to act with a greater sense of sensitivity in
such matters when it concerns the future prospects of
young and promising candidates. The petitioner had
cleared the Preliminary Examination and by not
considering her candidature, the system may lose out a
bright young candidate.
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6. We, therefore, allow this writ petition and direct
the respondents to allow the petitioner to participate in
the Mains Examination of Uttarakhand Judicial Services
Civil Judge (Junior Division) Examination 2021 to be held
from 2.8.2022 to 5.8.2022.
7. The petitioner shall complete relevant
formalities by tomorrow for which she shall meet the
respondent no.2 i.e. Secretary, Uttarakhand Public
Service Commission in his office tomorrow at 11 AM.
8. Let a copy of this order be supplied to learned
counsel for the petitioner today itself as per the
prescribed Rules.
________________
VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.
________________________
RAMESH CHANDRA KHULBE, J.
Dated: 28th July, 2022
Rdang
