Court No. - 34
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 37081 of 2014
Petitioner :- Abhishek Parmar
Respondent :- Union Of India Thru Secy. And 2 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Bakhteyar Yusuf
Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,A.K.Goswami,Ashok Trivedi,S.C.
Hon'ble Sudhir Agarwal,J. Hon'ble Ifaqat Ali Khan,J.
1. Heard Shri Bakhteyar Yusuf, learned counsel for petitioner, Shri Arvind Kumar Goswami learned counsel for respondent no. 1 and Shri Ashok Trivedi, learned counsel for respondents no. 2 and 3.
2. Petitioner was a candidate for appointment on the post of Probationary Officer for which recruitment was made by respondent no. 2. Petitioner was called for interview. Subsequently his candidature has been cancelled by impugned order dated 24.05.2014 (Annexure 7 to petition) on the ground that he did not produce OBC certificate in the prescribed format, bearing non creamy layer clause issued on or after 31.03.2013. This is not disputed that petitioner was interviewed but at the time of interview he did not produce aforesaid certificate and produce the same subsequently. Terms and conditions of recruitment have been filed by petitioner himself as Annexure 1 the writ petition, Clause-E thereof relates to interview and reads as under;
"INTERVIEW"
Candidates who have been shortlisted in the examination for CWEPO/MT-III will subsequently be called for an Interview to beconducted by the Participating Organizations. Interviews will beconducted at select centres. The centre, address of the venue, time & date of Interview will be informed to the shortlisted candidates in the call letter. Candidates are required to download their interview call letters from authorized IBPS website www.ibps.in. Pleas note that any request regarding change in date, centre etc. of interview will not be entertained. However the conducting agencies reserve the right to change the date/ venue/time/ centre etc. of interview or hold supplementary process for particular date/ session / venue / centre / set of candidates as its discretion, under unforeseen circumstances, if any.
The total marks allotted for Interview are 100. The minimum qualifying marks in interview will not be less than 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates), the weightage (ratio) of CWE (exam) and interview will be 80:20. The combined final scores of candidates shall be arrived at on the basis of scores obtained by the candidates in CWE PO/MT-III and Interview.
A candidate should qualify both in the CWE and interview to be shortlisted for subsequent allotment process, details of which will be available subsequently on IBPS website.
While appearing for the Interview, the candidate should produce valid prescribed documents given below.
List of Documents to be produced at the time of interview(as Applicable) The following documents in original and self attested photocopies in support of the candidates eligibility and identity are to be invariably submitted at the time of interview falling which the candidate may not be permitted to appear for the interview.
(I) Printout of the valid Interview Call Letter
(ii) Valid system generated printout of the online application form registered for CWE PO/MT-III
(iii) Proof of Date of Birth (Birth Certificate or SSLC/ Std. XCertificate with DOB)
(iv) Photo Identity Proof as indicated in Point G of the advertisement
(v) Mark-sheets & certificates for Graduation or equivalent qualification etc. Proper document from Board / University for having declared the result on or before 01.07.2013 has to be submitted.
(vi) Caste Certificate issued by competent authority in the prescribed format as stipulated by Government of India in case of SC / ST /OBC category candidates.
In case of candidates belonging to OBC category, certificate should specifically contain a clause that the candidate does not belong to creamy layer section excluded from the benefits of reservation for other Backward Classes in Civil post 7 services under Government of India. OBC caste certificate containing the Non-creamy layer clause should be issued during the period 01.04.2013 to 31.03.2014. Caste Name mentioned in certificate should tally letter by letter with Central Government list / notification. Candidates belonging to OBC category but coming under creamy layer are not entitled to OBC reservation. They should indicate their category as General in the online application form.
(vii) Medical Certificate in prescribed format in case of Persons With Disability category. If the candidate has used the services of a Scribe at the time of CWE the duly filled in Biodata of the scribe in the prescribed format.
(viii) An Ex-serviceman candidate has to produce a copy of the discharge Certificate/pension payment order and documentary proof of rank last/presently held (substantive as well as acting) at the time of interview. Those who are still in defence service should submit a certificate from a competent authority that they will be relieved from defence services, on or before 12.08.2014.
(ix) Candidates serving in Government / quasi govt offices/ public Sector Undertakings (including Nationalized Banks and Financial Institutions) are required to produce a "No Objection Certificate" from their employer at the time of interview, in the absence of which their candidature will not be considered and traveling expenses, if any, otherwise admissible, will not be paid.
(x) Persons eligible for age relaxation under II (5) must produce the domicile certificate at the time of interview/at any stage of the subsequent process from the District Jurisdiction where he/she had ordinarily resided or any other authority designated in this regard by the Government Jammu & Kashmir to the effect that the candidate had ordinarily domiciled in the Kashmir Division of the State of J & K during the period from 01.01.80 to 31.12.89.
(xi) Persons eligible for age relaxation under II (6) must produce a certificate from the District Magistrate to the effect that they are eligible for relief in terms of the Rehabilitation Package for 1984 Riot Affected Persons sanctioned by the Government and communicated vide Ministry of Finance, Dept. of Financial Services communication No. F.No.9/21/2006-IR dated 27.07.2007.
(xii) Experience certificates, if any.
(xiii) Persons falling in categories (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) of Point B(I) should produce a certificate of eligibility issued by the Govt Of India
(xiv) Any other relevant documents in support of eligibility. (emphasis added)
3. Perusal of the aforesaid clause clearly shows that candidate was instructed that he should produce valid prescribed document listed therein while appearing for interview and clause VI of the list of documents clearly provides that Caste Certificate issued by Competent Authority in the prescribed format as stipulated by Government of India in the case of S.C. / ST / OBC category candidates has to be produced. In respect to OBC category it further provides that Certificate should specifically contain a clause that candidate does not belong to creamy layer section excluded from the benefit of reservation for OBC caste certificate. OBC caste certificate containing non creamy clause should have been issued during the period of 01.04.2013 to 31.03.2014.
4. Learned counsel for petitioner submitted that mere fact that aforesaid certificate was not produced at the time of interview would not make candidature of petitioner invalid and non consideration of his case is illegal and contrary to law laid by Supreme Court in Ram Kumar Gijroya Vs. Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board
and Another (2016) 4 Supreme Court Cases 754.
5. This issue has been considered by a Full Bench of this Court in Special Appeal No. 156 of 2017 (Gaurav Sharma vs. State of U.P. Thru Secy. And 3 Others) decided on 04.05.2017, Following 3 questions were referred for answer by Larger Bench;
"A. Whether the candidature of an OBC candidates is liable to be rejected on the ground of the caste certificate having been submitted after the last date for submission of applications?
B. Whether the decision in Arvind Kumar Yadav lays down and represents the correct position in law?
C. Whether there exists any irreconcilable difference or repugnancy between the norms fixed by the Union and State Governments with regard to certification of creamy layer? If not, its effect."
6. The aforesaid three questions have been answered by Full Bench as under;
"We accordingly answer Question No. 1 in the negative and hold that an OBC candidate is not exempt from the rigorous of a cut off or last date prescribed in an advertisement or recruitment notice. We further declare that Arvind Kumar Yadav correctly articulates the law on the issue and overrule Pravesh Kumar and Shubham Gupta. Insofar as Question No. 3 is concerned, we hold that although there is no repugnancy in the norms fixed by the Union and State Government, the same would have no favourable impact upon the eligibility of a candidate unless he also furnishes a certificate evidencing him as belonging to the OBC category as recognized and identified by the State." (emphasis added)
7. Full Bench has also examined judgment in Ram Kumar Gijroya (supra), and found that in the aforesaid case advertisement did not prescribe a cut off date at all. Requirement of submitting OBC certificate therein was introduced only by a notice issued by Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board while declaring final result. Full Bench took the view that decision in Ram Kumar Gijroya (supra) was based on distinct factual back drop. It was in these circumstances that the fact of the case in Ram Kumar Gijroya (supra) were distinguished from a case where there is a condition prescribed specifically.
8. In the present case advertisement clearly stipulates that at the time of interview candidates would have to produce Caste Certificate in a particular manner which has not been done by petitioner and therefore reliance placed on behalf of petitioner on the aforesaid authority does not help him.
9. We are of the view that candidature of petitioner has rightly been cancelled.
10. Writ petition lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed.
Order Date :- 24.4.2018 Vikram