IMPORTANT POINT
Intentional suppression of employment information in a job application can lead to disqualification and cancellation of appointment offers.

JUDGMENT :

PARTHA SARATHI SEN, J.

1. In this intra-court appeal the order dated May 7, 2024 as passed in WPA No.12460 of 2024 has been impugned. By the impugned order the learned Single Judge while allowing the said writ petition has set aside the office memo no.SCCY-13016/13/1318 dated April 10, 2024 as issued by respondent no.4 herein whereby and whereunder the offer of appointment of the writ petitioner/respondent no.1 herein for the post of Technical Assistant ‘A’ (Computer Science) at Science City, Kolkata was cancelled and withdrawn.

2. The respondents of the said writ petition felt aggrieved and thus preferred the instant appeal.

3. For effective disposal of the instant appeal the facts leading to filing of the aforementioned writ petition before the learned Single Judge is required to be discussed in a nutshell.

4. The appellant no.1/Authority published advertisement no.04/2023 for the recruitment of Technical Assistant ‘A’ (Computer Science) and the last date for submission of online application pursuant to such advertisement was November 30, 2023. The writ petitioner who is the respondent no.1 herein at that material time was and is still in service in the post of Junior Peon in Presidency University submitted his online application with the appellant no.1/authority. Based on his performance in the written/skill test as held on March 11, 2024 the writ petitioner/respondent no.1 was offered appointment on such terms and conditions as has been mentioned in the memorandum dated March 15, 2024, a copy of which has been annexed with the stay petition at page nos.47 and 48. It is pertinent to mention herein that in the said memorandum dated March 15, 2024 the writ petitioner was directed to produce some original documents for verification at the time of joining together with self attested copies of the said documents out of which one document is of ‘ No Objection Certificate/Relieving Letter’ from the present employer wherever applicable.

5. At the time of verification it has been noticed by the appellants more specifically the appellant no.1/authority that the writ petitioner had suppressed the information pertaining to his present employment at the Presidency University in his online application and according to the appellant no.4 such suppression is in violation of Clause no.4 of the said advertisement no.04/2023 and amounts to adverse character antecedent and thus the offer of appointment which has been issued in favour of the writ petitioner was cancelled and withdrawn with immediate effect. As discussed earlier the said order of cancellation dated April 10, 2024 was the subject matter of the writ petition before the learned Single Judge.

6. In course of hearing Mr. Biswaroop Bhattacharyya, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants at the very outset draws our attention to the aforementioned advertisement as published from the office of the appellant no.1. Drawing attention to Clause 4 of the guidelines/instructions of the said advertisement it is contended by Mr. Bhattacharyya , learned counsel appearing for the appellants that it has been specifically mentioned in the said Clause that in the event any information provided by the candidate is found to be false or the material facts are concealed by the candidate at any stage i.e. during processing of the application or even after his/her joining in the Council the candidature shall be cancelled forthwith and his/her service shall be terminated, if appointed.

7. Drawing attention to page no.39 of the stay petition being the last page of the said advertisement it is submitted by Mr. Bhattacharyya that in the said advertisement the appellants/authorities had made it mandatory for the candidates working in the Government, Semi-Government, Public Sector Undertaking and Autonomous Organizations to apply through proper channel along with a ‘No Objection Certificate (NOC)’ from their present employer at the time of written/skill test.

8. It is further submitted by Mr. Bha