The deliberate suppression of material information by the respondent and his subsequent ineligibility as per the eligibility criteria justified the cancellation of his candidature, and the High Court erred in directing the appellant Bank to allow the respondent to discharge his duties as a Peon.

JUDGMENT :

M.R. SHAH, J.

1. Leave granted.

Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 22.11.2019 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack in Writ Appeal No. 278 of 2019 by which the Division Bench of the High Court has dismissed the appeal preferred by the appellant herein and has confirmed the judgment and order dated 13.03.2019 passed by the learned single Judge of the High Court in W.P. (C) No. 19261 of 2016, by which the learned single Judge allowed the said writ petition preferred by the respondent herein and directed the appellant Bank to allow the respondent herein-original writ petitioner to discharge his duties as a Peon as per the appointment order dated 03.10.2016, the employer-Punjab National Bank has preferred the present appeal.

2. Applications were invited by the appellant Bank for the post of Peon by publishing an advertisement in the local newspaper. The eligibility criteria mentioned in the said advertisement was that a candidate should have passed 12th class or its equivalent with basic reading/writing knowledge of English. It specifically provided that a candidate should not be a Graduate as on 01.01.2016. A candidate was also required to submit the bio-data as per the prescribed format. The respondent herein, though a Graduate, applied for the said post. However, neither in the application nor in the bio-data, he disclosed that he was a graduate. At this stage, it required to be noted that the eligibility criteria and the educational qualification prescribed above was as per the Circular Letter No. 25 of 2008 dated 06.11.2008 issued by the Human Resources Development Division (for short “HRD Division”) of the Bank specifying the guidelines for recruitment of staff in subordinate cadre in the bank and prescribing the eligibility criteria. That on the basis of the information provided by the applicants in their applications, a list of eligible candidates was prepared on the basis of the marks obtained in 10th Class and 12th Class. As per Circular dated 04.03.2016 issued by the HRD Division of the Bank, the selection of the peons was required to be made on the basis of the percentage of marks obtained by the candidates in 10th standard and 12th standard. That so far as the respondent herein-original writ petitioner is concerned, based on the information provided by him in his application, his name appeared in the selected candidates of Balsar District. That an order of appointment was issued. It appears that while scrutiny of the documents was going on, the appellant Bank came to know about a graduate certificate showing that the respondent-original writ petitioner was a graduate since 2014. Thus, it was noticed and found that he was not eligible as per the advertisement and the Circulars and that the respondent deliberately, wilfully and intentionally suppressed the fact that he was a graduate. Therefore, his candidature was cancelled and he was not allowed to join the bank in subordinate cadre. That, thereafter, the respondent filed the writ petition before the High Court, being Writ Petition (C) No. 19261 of 2016, for an appropriate order to allow him to discharge his duties as Peon as per the appointment order dated 03.10.2016 and to further direct that his appointment may not be cancelled on the ground that he has possessed higher qualification. That the said petition was opposed by the bank by filing a detailed affidavit-in-reply. It was specifically pointed out that the eligibility criteria and the educational qualification was fixed as per the Circular Letter No. 25 of 2008 dated 06.11.2008 issued by the HRD Division of the Bank. It was also pointed out that on 04.03.2016 the HRD Division issued another Circular Letter No. 6 of 2016 pursuant to the decision of the Bank’s Board in their meeting dated 29.02.2016, by which it was decided that the selection of the Peons will be made on the basis of the percentage of marks obtained by the candidates