JUDGMENT :

Shailesh P. Brahme, J.

Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. With the consent of parties taken up for final hearing at the admission stage.

2. The petitioner was an aspirant in the selection process undertaken by the respondents for the post of Sub Station Assistant. His name was not included in the select list. That is the cause of action for approaching this Court by way of present petition. He has prayed for declaration that his exclusion from the selection process be held to be bad in law and the directions be issued to the respondents to include his name in the select list from Other Backward Class (OBC) – Project Affected Persons category.

3. The petitioner has contended that he belongs to O.B.C. category, which is vertical reservation. He also claims to be eligible for the horizontal reservation from the Project Affected Persons Category (hereafter referred as to the ‘PAP’ for the sake of brevity and convenience). He has produced on record the certificate of nomination for PAP. He applied in the recruitment process of Sub Station Assistant from reservation for OBC as well as PAP category.

4. The petitioner acquired Apprenticeship Certificate Training from 15.07.2009 to 14.07.2011 in the trade of Lineman at M.S.E.D.C.L. Kannad, Aurangabad. A certificate to that effect is produced on record. He also applied from the category of Apprenticeship Training (hereinafter referred to as the “APP” for the sake of brevity and convenience). The petitioner had rendered services as Junior Operator on outsourcing basis through Shrikrushna Vijtantri Apprentice Sushikshit Berojgar Seva Sahkari Sanstha Ltd. Jalna from 12.12.2011 to 01.03.2014. At the time of appearing in the selection process, he was working as Junior Operator on outsourcing basis through contractor from 01.08.2015 to 30.06.2019.

5. The respondent No. 1 published an advertisement No. 05/2019 in June 2019 for 2000 posts of Sub Station Assistants. Out of which 355 posts were earmarked for OBC category. Out of those 355 posts, 18 posts were earmarked for horizontal reservation of PAP and 36 posts were earmarked for APP category. The petitioner applied for the said post on 22.07.2019 from OBC category. It was mentioned in the application form that he had Apprentice Training certificate and also stated to be PAP category candidate.

6. The petitioner claimed relaxation of age by five years being from OBC category and additional two years as a period undergone for Apprenticeship Training. According to him the maximum age was extended upto 34 years. He was within the upper age limit as prescribed by Clause 4 of the advertisement No. 05 of 2019. A written test was conducted on 25.08.2019. It’s result was declared on 28.06.2020 and 22.08.2020. He was declared to have secured 32 marks out of 100 marks. The respondents declared category wise cut off applicable for the selection. In the horizontal reservation of PAP a cut off was 29.25 marks and for APP it was 56.50 marks.

7. It is the case of the petitioner that he scored above the cut off for horizontal PAP in OBC category as he was having 32 marks where the cut off was 29.25 marks. Despite that his name was neither included in the select list, nor in the wait list. His representation dated 17.12.2020 did not yield any result. That was cause for him to approach this Court.

8. Per contra, the respondents appeared and filed affidavit in reply. It was contended that the petitioner had applied simultaneously from two different horizontal reservations namely PAP and APP. The advertisement produced on record is candid in its description, terms and conditions. A cut off for horizontal APP category reservation was 56.50 marks, whereas the petitioner secured 32 marks which was much below in that category.

9. It is specific case of the respondents that on the prescribed date i. e. 26.07.2019, the petitioner crossed maximum age limit of 32 years considering his date of birth as 15.06.1987. He was ineligible for horizontal PAP category, bei