ORDER :

P. Sam Koshy, J.

1. The grievance of the petitioner in the instant case is that the petitioner has been arbitrarily held ineligible from appointment on the post of Shiksha Karmi Grade-III in the recruitment process which was initiated in the year 2008 holding the petitioner to be age barred.

2. The brief facts of the case relevant for adjudication of the present case is that an advertisement was issued by the respondents for filling up of the post of Shiksha Karmi Grade-III on 09.01.2008. The last date for submission of the forms as per the advertisement was 09.02.2008. The terms and conditions determining the eligibility criteria was as was provided under the recruitment rules under the Chhattisgarh Panchayat Shiksha Karmies (Recruitment and Conditions of Services) Rules, 2007 and all those circulars/instructions issued by the State Government from time-to-time. Under the Rules the maximum age limit for recruitment was 35 years. The petitioner's date of birth was 14.07.1968 and on the date when the advertisement was published and even on the last date that was prescribed under the advertisement, the petitioner was below 40 years. The petitioner belonged to the OBC category and therefore the petitioner was entitled for the age relaxation provided by the State Government for a period of 5 years.

3. Thus the maximum age limit within which the petitioner could seek employment was 40 years. The contention of the petitioner is that since in the advertisement there was no cutoff date prescribed for determining the age of the petitioner, then under the legal position as it stands in the light of the various judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the last date of submission of forms would be determined as the cut-off date. That in the instant case the last date of submission of forms was 09-02-2008 and on 09.02.2008 the admitted position so far as the age of the petitioner was 39 years and 8 months. The respondents however determined the age taking the cut-off date to be the first day of January the year following the date of written examination i.e. 01.01.2009.

4. The counsel for the petitioner submits that the issue raised in the present writ petition stands squarely decided by the decision of this Court in the case of "Sandeep Kumar Shrivastava & Anr. v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors." in WPS No. 4829/2008 which was decided on 22/02/2010. The only issue which now require to be considered is whether the stand of the respondents that the cut-off date has to be presumed to be 01.01.2009 instead of last date of submission of the forms as per the advertisement.

5. It would be relevant at this juncture to take note of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Ashok Kumar Sonkar v. Union of India & Ors." [2007 4 SCC 54], wherein in paragraph No. 20 it has been held as under:--

"20. Possession of requisite educational qualification is mandatory. The same should not be uncertain. If an uncertainty is allowed to prevail, the employer would be flooded with applications of ineligible candidates. A cut-off date for the purpose of determining the eligibility of the candidates concerned must, therefore, be fixed. In absence of any rule or any specific date having been fixed in the advertisement, the law, therefore, as held by this Court would be the last date for filing the application."

6. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Dipitimayee Parida v. State of Orissa & Ors." (2008 10 SCC 687) : (AIR 2009 SC 935) has reiterated the aforesaid legal position and has observed that ordinarily the extra qualification laid down for recruitment should be considered as on the last date of submission of the application, unless otherwise the advertisement itself specifically prescribed the cutoff date. This Hon'ble Court also in WPS No. 4829/2008 relying upon the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Ashok Kumar Sonkar" (supra) has allowed the writ petition on 22.02.2010.

7. In the instant case the advertisement is silent so