The court confirmed that the burden of proof for indigenous identity lies with the petitioner, reinforcing that DNA testing cannot be mandated without consent and administrative decisions must adhere to natural justice principles.

JUDGMENT & ORDER :

MANISH CHOUDHURY, J.

1. Heard Mr. Taka Masa, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Arenlong, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. E. Thiba Phom, learned Government Advocate, Nagaland for the respondent nos. 1 – 4; and Mr. C.T. Jamir, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Albina Ozukum, learned counsel for the respondent no. 5.

2. The present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is preferred by the writ petitioner seeking the following reliefs :-

1. Quash and set aside, the impugned Order No. DC / KPE / JUD-64 [PT] 2011-12 / 214 dated 31.05.2024 [Annexure - V to the writ petition] issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Kiphire;

2. Quash and set aside / review / modify the impugned Notification No. NPSC/CON-35 / 2009 [Pt-1] dated 30.06.2020 issued by the Secretary, NPSC [Annexure - L to the writ petition] only with regard to Serial No. 37;

3. Direct the Deputy Commissioner, Kiphire to restore the Indigenous Certificate issued by the File No. DC / KPE / JUD-64 / 2017, Registration No. 1013 / 2017 dated 09.06.2017 and Schedule Tribe Certificate of the Petitioner issued by the File No. DC / KPE / JUD-64/2017, registration No. 113 / 2017 dated 09.06.2017 for the ends of justice [Annexure - G and H];

4. Direct the Respondent authorities to appoint the Petitioner to the post of Secretariat Assistant under the establishment of Nagaland Civil Secretariat with all consequential benefits in terms of the Notification No. NPSC / CON-35 / 2009 [Pt-1] dated 19.12.2019 and as modified by the Notification No. NPSC / CON-35 / 2009 [Pt-1] dated 22.01.2020, Annexure - I and I-i for the ends of justice.

3. In order to understand and appreciate as to why the writ petitioner has preferred the present writ petition seeking the above reliefs, a narration of the background facts leading to the institution of the writ petition is necessary. It is relevant to mention that before this Court, this is the third round of litigation at the instance of the writ petitioner.

4. On 31.08.2018, the Nagaland Public Service Commission [‘the NPSC’ or ‘the Commission’, for short] published an advertisement being Advertisement No. NPSC-3/2018 whereby applications were invited from eligible candidates to appear in the NCS, NPS, NSS & Allied Services [Preliminary] Examination, 2018. The said recruitment process was initiated for filling up vacancies in different services of the State Government in Nagaland. By initiating the recruitment process, the following vacancies were inter alia sought to be filled up :-

5. In response to the Advertisement dated 31.08.2018, applications were received from candidates and upon scrutiny of applications, the candidates whose applications were found complete, were provisionally admitted to appear in the NCS, NPS, NSS & Allied Services [Preliminary] Examination, 2018. Admission Certificates were accordingly issued to those candidates to appear in a Written Examination [Preliminary] scheduled on 10.11.2018. The petitioner’s application was also accepted provisionally and she was issued an Admission Certificate on 01.11.2018. After the stage of Written Examination [Preliminary], the process of selection consisted of Main Written Examination, Viva-Voce and Medical Fitness Tests. At the time of submission of applications, the candidates were required to exercise options for the different categories of posts.

6. After completion of Main Written Examination, Viva Voce and Medical Fitness Tests, the NPSC vide a Notification bearing no. NPSC / CON-35 / 2009 [Pt-I] dated 19.12.2019 declared the provisional results as per merit for the categories of posts under the Government of Nagaland, as mentioned in the Table above, on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates in Main Written Examination, Viva Voce and Medical Fitness Tests and as per the options exercised by the candidates. In a ‘Note’ appended to the Notification, it was mentioned that any selected candidate intending not to accept the post for which he /