The Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in the case of Pankaj Choudhary vs Union Public Service Commission consisting of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela held that the timelines prescribed for candidates to upload the form are sacrosanct and cannot be tinkered with.
Facts
Petitioner had sought a direction from the Tribunal to permit him to submit his Detailed Application Form, to enable him to appear in the Indian Forest Services (‘IFS’) (Mains) Examination to be held on 20.11.2022. He impugns the order whereby, the Original Application (‘O.A.’) filed by the petitioner was dismissed.
Contentions Made
Petitioner: It was contended that he was not aware of the date and time by which the form had to be filled. When he was made aware of the DAF notification and immediately attempted to fill up the same, the portal had closed. It was also contended that respondent did not furnish a fixed timeline for its notification, and he had to check the respondent’s website regularly and publication of notification were informed on mobile and major newspapers only. Moreover, he could not get the notification timely due to poor network connectivity.
Observations of the Court
The Bench was unable to accept the contention of learned counsel for petitioner because the respondent had notified that the form was to be filled up from 08.08.2022 till 18.08.2022. Moreover, there is no contention that there was bad connectivity in Jaipur.
It opined that he had eleven days to fill up the form. The contention of the petitioner that he was not aware of the notification cannot be accepted. Further, for the reason, that in the petition itself, petitioner stated that the candidates had to keep checking the website from time to time for the notification for filling up the form. The timelines prescribed by UPSC for candidates to upload the form are sacrosanct and cannot be tinkered with.
Judgment
Finding no merit in this petition, the Bench dismissed it accordingly.
Case: Pankaj Choudhary vs Union Public Service Commission
Citation: W.P.(C) 13747/2022, CM APPL. 41960/2022 & CM APPL. 41961/2022
Bench: Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela
Decided on: 22nd September 2022
Read Judgment @Latestlaws.com
Picture Source :
