WPSB/67/2023
2023 Latest Caselaw 466 UK

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
                  AT NAINITAL


         THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
                                AND
             THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK KUMAR VERMA




              WRIT PETITION (S/B) NO. 67 OF 2023


                        22ND FEBRUARY, 2023

Between:


Samridhi Mamgain                          ......          Petitioner


and


State of Uttarakhand & another            ......         Respondents


Counsel for the petitioner    :   Mr.   Harshit    Sanwal,    learned
                                  counsel

Counsel for the respondents   :   Mr.    Pradeep     Joshi,    learned
                                  Additional Chief Standing Counsel
                                  with Ms. Puja Banga, learned Brief
                                  Holder    for    the      State   of
                                  Uttarakhand / respondent No. 1

                              :   Mr. Ashish Joshi, learned counsel
                                  for respondent No. 2


The Court made the following:


JUDGMENT: (per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Vipin Sanghi)



             The petitioner has preferred the present writ

petition to seek a direction to the respondents to declare

the petitioner successful in the preliminary examination
                                    2




undertaken by her under Roll No. 232576 for the post as

provided at Sl. No. 1 (consolidated post) of the cut off

list to permit her to participate in mains examination of

Uttarakhand Combined State Civil / Upper Subordinate

Services Examination, 2021. The petitioner also assails

the     Notification   dated       06.02.2023,        issued   by   the

Uttarakhand Combined State Civil / Upper Subordinate

Services Examination, in so far as it relates to the

petitioner, whereby she has been excluded from the list

of candidates, who have been declared eligible to take

the mains examination.



2)           The respondents advertised a large number of

posts     vide   Notification          dated    10.08.2021.         The

petitioner, who is a woman, domiciled in the State of

Uttarakhand,      offered   her         candidature.      Under     the

recruitment      process,      a       three   tier   procedure     was

stipulated by the respondents, namely, a preliminary

examination; followed by a mains examination by those

who meet the cut off fixed by the respondents in the

preliminary examination, and; followed by an interview.

The preliminary examination was held on 03.04.2022.

The result of the preliminary examination was declared

on 26.05.2022, in which 5351 candidates were declared
                               3




as successful.      Pertinently, the petitioner was not

declared   as   successful,   as   a   female    domiciled      in

Uttarakhand, for whom reservation was provided to the

extent of 30%. This was because the petitioner did not

meet the cut off marks which were fixed as 78.649.


3)         The reservation granted to women, domiciled

in Uttarakhand, was challenged before this Court in Writ

Petition (S/B) No. 355 of 2022.        We passed an interim

order, holding that reservation could not be limited only

for   women     candidates    domiciled   in    the    State    of

Uttarakhand, and directed that such reservation for

women should apply across the board, i.e., for all

women whether, or not, they were domiciled in the State

of Uttarakhand.     There was another petition preferred

before this Court, being Writ Petition (PIL) No. 133 of

2022, Satya Dev Tyagi Vs State of Uttarakhand and

others.    In pursuance of the orders passed in that

petition, the respondents issued yet another cut off list.

On this occasion, the petitioner's name was included in

the   female    candidates    declared    successful     in    the

preliminary examination.


4)         The order passed by this Court in Writ Petition

(S/B) No. 355 of 2022, was challenged before the
                                     4




Supreme Court, and was stayed by the Supreme Court,

and in the meantime, the State Legislature enacted the

Uttarakhand Public Service (Horizontal Reservation for

Women) Act, 2022, once again, statutorily reserving the

30% reservation for Uttarakhand women. In pursuance

of    the    said    reservation         statutorily    granted,     the

respondents issued a fresh cut off list, as a result of

which,      the   petitioner    again       stands     ousted.       The

petitioner is aggrieved by the said action of the

respondents.


5)           We have heard the learned counsels, and we

are of the view that there is no merit in this petition.

The petitioner was not declared successful in the

preliminary examination- in the result originally declared

on 26.05.2022. With the enactment of the Uttarakhand

Public Service (Horizontal Reservation for Women) Act,

2022, and on account of the stay of the order passed by

us in Writ Petition (S/B) No. 355 of 2022, the position

has    been       reverted     to       what   it    was     when    the

advertisement was issued, and the preliminary result

was declared on 26.05.2022.                That being the position,

the exclusion of the petitioner in the merit list / cut off,

now    circulated     by     the        respondents,       wherein   the

petitioner did not find her name amongst the successful
                            5




candidates in the preliminary examination, cannot be

faulted.   Merely because the petitioner may have been

declared as successful on 19.10.2022, would not vest

any right in her, as there is no estoppel against the law.


6)         We, therefore, did not find any merit in this

petition. The same is, accordingly, dismissed.



                                      ________________
                                      VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.



                                  _________________
                                 ALOK KUMAR VERMA, J.

Dt: 22nd FEBRUARY, 2023 Negi