Failure to comply with the prescribed mode of communication and non-reporting for recruitment stages may lead to the cancellation of candidature, and the burden of communication cannot be shifted to the respondents.

JUDGMENT

Navin Chawla, J. - The petition has been heard by way of video-conferencing.

1. This petition has been filed by the petitioner praying for a direction to the respondents to allow him to join at INS Chilka and consider him in further enrolment/recruitment process.

2. The petitioner had applied for the post of Navik (GD) in the Indian Coast Guard (in short, 'ICG') for the 02/2021 batch. The petitioner cleared the Stage - I recruitment process successfully. The petitioner was thereafter called for the Physical Fitness Test, which also he successfully completed. However, on examination of his documents, the Recruitment Board declared him as not qualified and failed him on account of some issue with his Caste Certificate. The petitioner states that thereafter he checked his application status online on the portal and the same showed 'Invalid Credentials'.

3. The petitioner claims that in the month of august 2021, his phone was damaged and he did not have money to get it repaired as he belongs to a humble background. For this reason, he was not able to check his result, which was declared and uploaded by the respondents on the website on 12.08.2021. The petitioner further claims that on 14.08.2021 he received an e-mail from the Recruitment Directorate that his case has been re-examined and his documents have been found to be in order and that he has cleared the Stage - II recruitment process. The petitioner claims that as he was unaware of his clearing of the Stage - II recruitment process, he could not report at INS Chilka for the Stage - III recruitment process on 27.08.2021, as directed. The petitioner states that he was unable to report for the Stage - III recruitment process due to negligence and communication gap from the respondents' end as no intimation was given to the petitioner through a text message or through a postal communication of his clearing the Stage - II recruitment process. Such intimation was given only through e-mail, which the petitioner was unable to check because he was using the basic-feature phone and surviving on limited resources.

4. The petitioner claims that he then received an e-mail dated 08.09.2021 from the Recruitment Directorate seeking reason(s) why he had not reported to INS Chilka. He thereafter got his phone repaired on 13.09.2021 and checked his e-mail on 14.09.2021, when he came to know that he had to report at INS Chilka by 27.08.2021. The petitioner claims that he reported at the Headquarters in Noida, on 15.09.2021, when he was asked to report at INS Chilka with all his documents and the police verification report. The petitioner got his police verification conducted and reported at INS Chilka on 21.09.2021 and regularly thereafter, however, he was not allowed to enter the facility or meet any official. On 29.09.2021, the petitioner also submitted a written application to the Commanding Officer at INS Chilka, explaining his inability to report at an earlier stage. The petitioner claims that he cannot be denied employment for the fault of the respondents who had earlier declared him as 'failed' during the verification of the documents, which was later found to be incorrect, thereby declaring him successful in the Stage - II recruitment process, however, intimation thereof was not properly given to the petitioner.

5. On the other hand, the respondent no. 3, in its counter affidavit, has stated that the petitioner was only provisionally failed at Stage - II examination by the Recruitment Board during the verification of the documents at Noida, on 29.06.2021, with a direction to check the final result on his login ID when the results are declared on the ICG website. The petitioner was declared 'pass' for Stage - II during the final scrutiny of the documents by the ICG prior to issuing the E-admit Card for the Stage - III recruitment process and the same was informed to the petitioner vide e-mail dated 14.08.2021 with a direction to check his result on the ICG website. The petitioner, ho