Compliance with submission deadlines and eligibility criteria is critical in maintaining the integrity of public recruitment processes, particularly under EWS provisions.

JUDGMENT

[Court hearing convened via video-conferencing mechanism on account of COVID-19]

Rajiv Shakdher, J.:

Preface:-

1. This writ petition is directed against the order dated 14.06.2021, passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal [hereafter referred to as "the Tribunal"] in O.A.No.53/2021 [in short "OA"]

2. The petitioner had approached the Tribunal to assail the decision of respondent no.1/Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) dated 09.09.2020, whereby her candidature for Civil Services Examination, 2019 [in short "CSE 2019"] was cancelled.

2.1. According to the petitioner, she became aware of her candidature being cancelled only when she received information on 11.12.2020, in response to her application filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005, dated 01.12.2020.

3. Shorn of unnecessary details, the petitioner's candidature, as per the respondents, stood cancelled for two reasons :

(i) First, she had failed to submit the requisite Income and Asset Certificate [in short "I&A Certificate"] before the stipulated deadline.

(ii) Second, the I&A Certificate filed by the petitioner, albeit after the deadline stipulated, disclosed that she did not meet the eligibility criteria for securing the post under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

3.1. What is not in dispute is that the petitioner, to take the benefit of reservation under the EWS category, would have had to demonstrate that her family had a gross annual income below Rs.8 lakhs and that insofar as CSE 2019 was concerned, the applicable financial year [in short 'FY'] was 2017-18 [ assessment year (AY) 2018-19].

3.2. It is also not in dispute that the provisions of the Office Memorandum (OM) dated 31.01.2019 read with the OM dated 19.01.2019 applied to the petitioner.

3.3. As per the aforementioned OM, concededly, the expression 'family' includes the person seeking the benefit of the reservation, his/her parents and siblings below the age of 18 years, as also his/her spouse and children below the age of 18 years.

Background:-

4. With this preface, the following broad facts are required to be noticed.

4.1. The petitioner had sat for CSE 2019. The petitioner cleared, both the preliminary and the main examination as well as the interview. The petitioner secured 65th rank in the merit list, and was, consequently, recommended by respondent no.2 i.e., Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for allocation of service.

4.2. Concededly, the petitioner in the first instance, albeit, after the preliminary examination was held, erroneously submitted the I&A Certificate for F.Y. 2018-19 dated 24.06.2019.

4.3. After the result for the main examination was declared (which was published on 14.01.2020), UPSC, via an e-mail dated 25.02.2020, informed the petitioner that a discrepancy had been noticed in her detailed application form [in short "DAF"] concerning the I&A Certificate submitted by her. It was pointed out that the I&A Certificate issued to her was not for F.Y.2017- 18; which was the relevant F.Y. for which the I&A Certificate was required to be appended to the DAF.

4.4. Via a communication dated 02.03.2020, UPSC wrote to the petitioner that while verifying her documents for the personality test, it was noticed that she had not produced the I&A Certificate for F.Y.2017-18. Accordingly, it was conveyed to the petitioner that her candidature for CSE 2019 was provisional; an aspect which was explained to her in person, as well by the concerned officer. The aspect involving the fact that she had submitted an undertaking to submit the requisite document in