The court held that procedural strictness in recruitment must be balanced with fairness, allowing exceptions for valid experience certificates issued by authorized personnel even if not counter signed by the Registrar, thereby safeguarding candidate rights.

JUDGMENT :

HARISH KUMAR, J.

1. Heard Mr. Anand Kumar Ojha, learned Senior Advocate along with Mr. Shankar Kumar, learned Advocate for the petitioner; Mr. Pawan Kumar, learned Advocate for Bihar State University Service Commission and Md. Zeeshan Kalim, learned Advocate for the State.

2. The petitioner, an aspirant for the Post of Assistant Professor (Physics) in the Universities of Bihar in connection with Advertisement No. AP-PHYS-20/20-21 dated 21.09.2020, has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court seeking a declaration that his non-inclusion in the list of selected candidates for the post of Assistant Professor (Physics) in EWS category, as contained in Notice No. 1640 dated 30.09.2024 issued by the Secretary, Bihar State University Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’) is illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction. The petitioner has further prayed for a direction to consider the certificate of experience to be valid satisfying the requirement of the Advertisement and considering the case of the petitioner afresh by awarding suitable marks against the experience.

3. The facts briefly narrated in the writ petition are that the Commission vide Advertisement No. AP-PHYS-20/20-21 dated 21.09.2020 invited Online applications for regular appointment on the post of Assistant Professor (Physics) in different Universities. The petitioner on being found eligible submitted his application under the EWS category along with other necessary certificates/papers. The Commission vide notice no. 595 dated 21.06.2024 notified the name of the candidates, whose applications were approved. The name of the petitioner stands at serial no. 1158. The said notice also stated that if any candidate has any grievance or claim, the same could be sent on the provided Email ID before 5.00 PM on 06.07.2024. The petitioner taking some abundant precaution uploaded some additional documents in support of his experience at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, which was duly acknowledged by the Commission. However, with respect to the said Email, the Commission categorically responded that the marks is awarded only on the documents attached with the application form and thus any additional document sent through Email will not be considered.

4. On receipt of Email, call letter for interview was issued. The petitioner ensured his appearance before the Committee on 24.09.2024 and submitted the attested copies of the original documents. Following which the Commission vide Notice No. 1640 dated 30.09.2024 released the category wise final result of the selected candidate. The cut off marks in the EWS category was fixed 83.4 marks and a total of 22 candidates were selected in the said category, but the name of the petitioner did not find place.

5. Aggrieved by his exclusion, the petitioner sought an information as to the total marks obtained by him along with break-up. On 16.10.2024, the Commission has uploaded the results of the candidates, including the petitioner. The results shown award of 66 marks under System Generated Total Score, award of 10 marks under Manual Generated Score and 6 marks for Interview, rounding up the total marks to 82. However, no marking against experience certificate has been made for about 7 years of Post Doctoral Experience at premier Institute. Thus, the petitioner could not attend the cut off marks by margin of 1.4 marks.

6. Mr. Anand Kumar Ojha, learned Senior Advocate for the petitioner adverting to the facts submitted that the Commission acted negligently in overlooking the experience certificate issued b