Anita Kumari … v. 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Chatra 3. The Circle Officer
Case Details
1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(S) No. 2497 of 2019 Anita Kumari … … Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Chatra 3. The Circle Officer, Chatra 4. Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission through its Secretary, Ranchi 5. The Examination Controller, Commission, Ranchi Jharkhand Staff Selection … Respondents …
Legal Reasoning
CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR ----- For the Petitioner For the Respondent-State For the Respondent-JSSC : Mr. Sudhir Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shashi Shekhar Dwivedi, Adv. : Mr. Aditya Kumar, AC to Sr. SC-I : Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, Advocate Mr. Prince Kumar, Advocate ----- Order No. 07 Dated: 29.01.2024 The present writ petition has been filed for quashing the decision of Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) as contained in Important Notice No. 2522 dated 14.02.2019
Decision
(Annexure-6 to the writ petition) issued under the signature of the respondent no. 5 – the Examination Controller, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission at Sl. No. 11 with respect to the petitioner, whereby her candidature for appointment as Trained Graduate Teacher (Hindi) under Scheduled Caste category, for which Combined Graduate Trained Teacher Competitive Examination (CGTTCE)-2016 was conducted, has been denied and has been considered under ‘General Category’ on the ground that she failed to produce valid Scheduled Caste certificate in support of her claim issued till the last date of submission of application form i.e., 25.04.2017, rather she submitted caste certificates of ‘Scheduled Tribe’ issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Chatra on 25.01.2018 and 03.11.2018. Further prayer has been made for issuance of 2 direction upon the respondents to consider the petitioner’s candidature under Scheduled Caste category for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (Hindi) for which she had applied and submitted Scheduled Caste certificate in support thereof and after getting selected, was called for verification of documents on 31.10.2018 at 10.30 A.M to 1.00 P.M vide Important Notice dated 04.10.2018 issued by the Examination Controller, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission. The petitioner has also prayed for issuance of direction upon the respondent nos. 4 and 5 to forthwith publish her result of Trained Graduate Teacher (Hindi) under Scheduled Caste category. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that pursuant to issuance of show cause notice to the petitioner dated 31.10.2018 (Annexure-4 to the writ petition), the petitioner duly submitted two caste certificates of Scheduled Caste category showing the name of her father i.e., the caste certificate issued on 01.09.2008 by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Chatra and another issued by the same authority on 03.11.2018. Hence, there was no valid reason for the respondent-JSSC not to consider her candidature under Scheduled Caste category. Moreover, the action of the respondent-JSSC in considering the petitioner’s candidature under ‘un-reserved’ category is also an arbitrary exercise of power. It is also submitted that though the petitioner had applied for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher of Hindi subject claiming reservation under Scheduled Caste category, yet the respondent- JSSC in its impugned notice dated 14.02.2019 has capriciously mentioned that she produced caste certificate of Scheduled Tribe 3 before last date of submission of the online application form. 3. On the contrary, Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-JSSC, refers to the counter affidavit dated 20.12.2023 filed on behalf of the respondent-JSSC and submits that initially while filling up the online application form, the petitioner had mentioned Caste Certificate No. JHCC/2017/38575 issued by the Circle Officer, Manika on 20.01.2017 which was having her husband’s residential address. In course of documents verification, she also produced Caste Certificate No. JHCC/2018/04100 issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Latehar on 25.01.2018 (i.e., issued after the last date of submission of the application form) on the basis of her husband’s residential address. The said caste certificates were not treated to be valid as per Clause-8 (V) of the terms and conditions of Advertisement No. 21/2016. Moreover, so far as the caste certificate dated 01.09.2008 said to have been submitted by the petitioner pursuant to the show cause notice dated 31.10.2018 was concerned, though the same was issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Chatra, yet it was not in accordance with format as per Clause 8(V)(i) of the advertisement. The petitioner also submitted two caste certificates issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Chatra in prescribed format mentioning her father’s residential address, however, the same was issued on 04.06.2017 and 03.11.2018 respectively i.e., after the last date of submission of online application form, which was not permissible as per Clause- 8 (V) (iii) of the advertisement. Under the said circumstance, the petitioner was not given the benefit of reservation under 4 ‘Scheduled Caste’ category as claimed by her, rather her candidature was considered under ‘Un-reserved’ category. It is also submitted that mentioning the words ‘Scheduled Tribe’ at Sl. No. 11 of the impugned notice dated 14.02.2019 is a typographical mistake as it is nobody’s case that the petitioner had claimed benefit of reservation under Scheduled Tribe category. 4. Learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC, at this juncture, refers to paragraph nos. 34 and 35 of the counter affidavit, which read as under: “34. That it is stated that in compliance of the aforesaid order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, state wise result has the J.S.S.C on been prepared and published by 25.04.2023, 17.05.2023, 15.09.2023 and 26.10.2023 and case of the petitioner was also considered under un- reserved category, the petitioner is ranked lower than the last selected candidate under un-reserved category, hence her name has not been included in the state wise result. 35. That it is not out of place to mention here that petitioner has secured 154 marks whereas the last successful candidate in state wise merit list has secured 184 marks (Tentative) under S.C Category and 234 marks (Tentative) in unreserved category.” 5. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and on consideration of the materials available on record, this Court is of the view that the respondent-JSSC has not committed any infirmity in not accepting the caste certificates of ‘Scheduled Caste’ category submitted by the petitioner as this Court finds the said action in complete conformity with the terms and conditions of Advertisement No. 21/2016. Otherwise also, keeping in view the statements made in paragraph nos. 34 & 35 of the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent-JSSC that after preparation of state-wise merit list in terms with the judgment 5 rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of “Satyajit Kumar & Ors. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors.”, reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 954 read with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Contempt Petition (Civil) No.612 of 2022 (Soni Kumari Vs. K. Ravi Kumar), the last successful candidate recommended for appointment under ‘Scheduled Caste’ category has obtained 184 marks, whereas the petitioner has secured only 154 marks. Considering the said fact also, the petitioner does not deserve to be recommended for appointment as Trained Graduate Teacher in Hindi subject under the ‘Scheduled Caste’ category. 6. The writ petition being devoid of merit is accordingly dismissed. Manish/NAFR (Rajesh Shankar, J.)