Ext.P1 is a vacancy notification issued by the PSC inviting applications for the post of Excise Guard in various departments. Petitioner submitted his application against the vacancies in Palakkad District. In the application, he did not claim any weightage based on his achievements in sports. He was included in the shortlist, and finally when Ext.P9 ranked list was published, he was assigned Rank No.134.

2. The case of the petitioner is that he was entitled for weightage for his achievements in sports and that although he did not make this claim in the application form, when he produced the certificates at the time of certificate verification, it was declined to be accepted. It is stated that thereupon he submitted Ext.P8 to the District PSC Officer and that no response was forthcoming.

3. It is stated that if his claim for weightage is accepted and marks are awarded on that basis, he will be eligible to be assigned rank No.70. The prayers sought in this writ petition are to quash Ext.P9 to the extent it places him at Rank No.134 instead of 70 and to direct the respondents to grant four marks on the basis of his achievements in sports and to reassign his ranking on that basis.

4. Ext.P3 is the general conditions of notification which should be complied with by every candidate. Clauses 6 and 18 of Ext.P6 reads as under:

6. Extra marks will be awarded to meritorious Sportsmen who possess the requisite qualifications and are within age, in selections to Class III and Class IV posts as per G.O(Ms) no.21/78/GAD dt 11.1.1978. Accordingly the Sportsmen who are eligible for weightage marks shall state the same in the relevant column in the application and shall produce the relevant certificate when required by the Commission. Candidates shall produce the sports Certificate issued by the authorities mentioned in para 5 of the above Government Order. As regards the Certificate issued by the Amateur Sports Organisation affiliated to any of the National Sports Association mentioned in Appendix VII of the Kerala Service Rules Vol.1 should bear the Countersignature of the Secretary, Kerala Sports Council. Certificates without the Countersignature of the Secretary, Kerala Sports Council will not be considered for awarding weightage marks. 18. Claims made subsequent to the application will not be considered under any circumstances. Proof submitted without proper claim in the application also will not be considered.

(emphasis supplied)

Therefore, from this, it is obvious that sportsmen who are eligible for weightage shall state the claim in the relevant column of the application form itself and shall produce relevant certificates when required by the Commission. Clause 18 makes it clear that claims made subsequent to the submission of the application will not be considered under any circumstances. As already stated, petitioner has no case of having stated anything in the application about his achievements in sports justifying his claim for weightage. If that be so, admittedly, there is violation of the general conditions of the notification, in which event, subsequent claim made by the petitioner at the time of certificate verification is not liable to be considered in view of Clause 18.

5. Therefore the PSC was only ensuring compliance with the general conditions of notification, and if so, the PSC cannot be faulted for not accepting the subsequent claim made by the petitioner. This very question has been considered by this Court in Kerala Public Service Commission v. Varghese and others (ILR 1977(1) Kerala 523), Kerala Public Service Commission v. Saroja Nambiar (ILR 1978 (2) Kerala 241) and Binimil K.G. v. K.P.S.C (1997(2) KLJ 477). In these judgments, this Court has upheld the rejection of the applications which were made in violation of the conditions stipulated in the notification and has held that the PSC is equally bound by the conditions and cannot act in violation thereof. In the light of the aforesaid judgments, I cannot