IMPORTANT POINT
Appointment - Basic qualification is to be adjudged as on last date of submission of application forms, subject to any extension of such date by concerned authority - Candidate/applicant has to comply with all conditions/eligibility criteria as per advertisement before cut-off date mentioned therein unless extended by recruiting authority.

JUDGMENT :

AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH, J.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. Leave granted.

3. This appeal arises out of the Judgment and Order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad (hereinafter referred to as the “High Court”) in Civil Misc. Writ (A) Petition No.4817 of 2020 dated 05.03.2022 (hereinafter referred to as the “Impugned Judgment”) filed by the appellants by which their claims for recruitment on the posts of Village Development Officers have been rejected.

THE FACTUAL PRISM:

4. The appellants were serving in the Armed Forces in various capacities, at the relevant time, when an advertisement was issued by the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “Commission”) for recruitment to the post of Village Development Officer. The registration for applications commenced on 18.01.2016 and the last date of submission of the application forms was 10.02.2016. The appellants applied in the category of Ex-Servicemen after obtaining No-Objection Certificate(s) (hereinafter referred to as “NOC”) from the employer(s). Initially, their result was withheld for various reasons but ultimately, they were issued appointment letters on 29.05.2019 (appellants no.1 & 2) & on 27.05.2019 (appellant no.3) respectively, on temporary basis. Worthwhile to note is that this was after the appellants were asked to appear before the Commission on 26.12.2018 with necessary documents pertaining to their qualification and more so with regard having equivalence to the Course of Computer Concept (hereinafter referred to as the “C.C.C. Certificate”). However, Show-Cause Notice was issued by the respondent no.3/District Development Officer, Badaun to the appellants no.1 and 2 on 19.02.2020 and to appellant no.3 on 12.02.2020, as to why, their appointment be not held to be a nullity as on the last date of submission of application form, they were employed with the Armed Forces and could not be treated as Ex-Servicemen and further that they did not possess the C.C.C. Certificate issued by the DOEACC¹[Department of Electronics and Accreditation of Computer Courses.], now NIELIT²[National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology.].

5. Subsequently, on 05.05.2020 (appellants no.1 & 2) and 28.04.2020 (appellant no.3) respectively, orders declaring the appellants’ appointments to be null and void were issued for the afore-mentioned reasons, as indicated in the Show-Cause Notice.

SUBMISSIONS BY THE APPELLANTS:

6. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that on both the grounds, the Show-Cause Notice was erroneous. It was submitted that the conduct of the authorities, while giving them time to produce documents and the same having been accepted, shows that they possessed the basic and relevant qualification for appointment to the concerned posts.

7. Learned counsel submitted that the date on which the appellants can be deemed to be appointed is the date on which the appointment letters were issued and taking that into consideration in the present case, when the appointment letters were actually issued in May, 2019, prior thereto, the appellant no.1 stood released on 31.07.2016, the appellant no.2 stood released on 30.11.2016 and the appellant no.3 also stood released on 29.02.2016, from the Armed Forces. As far as non-possession of the C.C.C. Certificate is concerned, the stand taken was that the appellants having higher qualification than what was required as also already having an equivalent qualification, their case(s) were recommended by the Commission for appointment.

SUBMISSIONS BY THE STATE & ITS FUNCTIONARIES:

8. Per contra, learned counsel for the State has taken the stand of the appellants being ineligible for appointment as they did not possess the requisite qualification, the reason being that they were not Ex-Servicemen as on the relevant date, when the post was advertised.

9. Further, it was contended that none of the appellants had the C.C.C. Certificate on the date of the advertiseme