MANMOHAN SARIN, J.

( 1 ) BY this writ petition, the petitioner assails the order dated 13. 2. 2004 by which the OA filed by him was dismissed by the Principal Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal. Petitioner in the OA had challenged the order bearing No. 8702/rectt. Cell/phq/ac-I dated 29. 5. 2003 passed by the Deputy commissioner of Police, Headquarters, confirming the show cause notice issued and cancelling his candidature for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) in delhi Police.

( 2 ) FACTS culminating in the filing of the present writ petition may be briefly noted: (i) Sandeep Kumar applied for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) in delhi Police on 24. 2. 1999. He had duly filled the application form for the post of Temporary Head Constable (Ministerial) bearing Sl. No. 047559 on 24. 2. 1999. He successfully qualified all the tests. On 3. 4. 2001, an attestation form was filled where he mentioned that because of a dispute with the tenant, a case had been registered against him, his mother and father for the offences punishable under Section 325/34 of the Indian Penal Code. It was also mentioned that the matter had been compromised. This information had not been given in the application form submitted earlier on 24. 2. 1999. (ii) A Show Cause notice dated 2. 8. 201 had been issued to the petitioner asking him to show cause why his candidature for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) should not be cancelled because he had concealed the factum of his involvement in the criminal case. Petitioner submitted a reply on 17. 8. 2001 stating that unintentionally the incident including the compromise and acquittal were not mentioned. there was no concealment with ulterior motive. An additional reply was filed by the petitioner wherein he gave instance of other cases where similar non-disclosure had been condoned either with a warning or with some minor penalty. The respondents were not satisfied with the replies and passed the order dated 29. 5. 2003 cancelling his candidature. The appeal/oa filed by the petitioner was also dismissed.

( 3 ) BEFORE we notice and discuss the grounds on which the petitioner assails the cancellation of his candidature, it would be pertinent to reproduce the relevant extracts from the application form as also the attestation form. Question No. 12 of the application form dated 24. 2. 1999 and reply thereto were as under:"q. 12 (a) : Have you ever been arrested, prosecuted, kept under detention or bound down/fined, convicted by a court of law for any offence, debarred/disqualified by any Public Service Commission from appearing at its examination/selection or debarred from any Examination, rusticated by any university or any other education authority/institution? ans. : No. Q. 12 (b) : Is any case pending against you in any court of law, University or any other educational authority/institution at the time of filling up this form? ans. : No. The petitioner in response to Question No. 13 (a) and (b) of the Attestation Form dated 13. 4. 2001, gave the following answers. The questions and answers are reproduced for facility of reference. Q. 13 (a) : Have you ever been arrested, prosecuted, kept under detention or bound down/fined, convicted by a court of law for any offence, debarred/disqualified by any Public Service Commission from appearing at its examination/selection or debarred from any educational authority/institution? ans. : Due to a dispute with our tenant a case was registered against me, my father and mother u/s 325/34 in the year 21. 7. 96. Subsequently, both parties compromised and same was accepted by court and the court acquitted and discharge us in 1998. Q. 13 (b) : If any case pending against you in any court of law, university or any other education authority/institution at the time of filling up this attestation form (if the answer to (a) and (b) is 'yes', full particulars of the case arrest, detention, fine, conviction, sentence etc. in the nature of the case pendin