Adherence to stipulated conditions in recruitment advertisements, including the timeline for certificate issuance and financial status criteria for category eligibility, is crucial for determining candidate eligibility.

JUDGMENT

1. The instant intra court appeal has been preferred by the appellant for assailing the judgment dated 02.08.2021 passed by learned Single Bench of this court whereby the writ petition seeking directions upon the respondents to consider his candidature under OBC (NCL) category for appointment on the post of Nurse Grade-II was dismissed.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the Director, Medical and Health Services, Rajasthan issued an Advertisement bearing No. 231 dated 30.05.2018 inviting applications for recruitment to the post of Nurse Grade-II under the provisions of Rajasthan Medical and Health Service Rules, 1965. The appellant being eligible for recruitment on the said post, on 02.07.2018, submitted his online application form as OBC, (NCL) candidate. The appellant was called for document verification on 18.07.2019. At that time, the appellant produced OBC (NCL) certificate dated 18.07.2019. The OBC (NCL) certificate was not found to be in conformity with the conditions stipulated in the advertisement dated 30.05.2018. Consequently, the name of the appellant was not included in the final select list of Nurse Grade-II published by the respondents on 28.04.2020. The writ petition filed by the appellant with a prayer to treat him in OBC (NCL) category came to be dismissed by the learned Single Bench on the ground that the appellant did not possess OBC (NCL) certificate in consonance with the terms and conditions of the Advertisement dated 30.05.2018 even at the time of document verification.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant, Shri Rishabh Tayal submitted that the appellant was in possession of OBC (NCL) certificates dated 14.02.2002, 14.06.2010, 04.07.2013 and 18.07.2019. The appellant had applied for renewal of OBC (NCL) certificate on 28.06.2018 but the same was not issued till the date of document verification. The appellant therefore, submitted an affidavit affirming that he belonged to the OBC (NCL) category and he will submit the OBC (NCL) certificate as soon as it is issued by the competent authority. It was further argued that the appellant had obtained higher marks than the cut-off marks in the OBC (NCL) category and number of seats for the post in question were lying vacant. Therefore, respondents should have provided him appointment on the post of Nurse Grade-II. Reliance was placed on the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India reported in (2016) 4 SCC 754 (Ram Kumar Gijroya v. Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and Ors.)

4. Per Contra, Shri Rajat Arora, learned counsel representing the respondents, submitted that the general condition No. 13(i) & (iv) of the advertisement which reads as below, clearly indicates that the certificate of Backward Category/Most Backward Category must have been issued in the previous one year from the last date of furnishing the application form:-

^13- lkekU; funsZ'k %&

i) vU; fiNM+k oxZ@vfr fiNM+k oxZ(MBC) dk uohure izek.k i= vkosnu izLrqr djus dh vafre frfFk ls 1 o"kZ iwoZ rd dh vof/k esa jktLFkku jkT; ds l{ke vf/kdkjh }kjk fu/kkZfjr izi= esa tkjh fd;k gqvk gksuk pkfg,] ftlesa fØehys;j@ukWu&fØehys;j dh izfof"B Li"Vr% vafdr gksuh pkfg,A bu oxksZa ds fØehys;j vH;fFkZ;ksa dks vkj{k.k dk ykHk ns; ugha gSA lkekftd U;k; ,oa vf/kdkfjrk foHkkx ds fn'kk funsZ'k la[;kF11/SC, ST, OBC, SBC/tk-iz-i@lk-U;k- ,oa vf/k- foHk-@15@54159 fnukad 9@9@15 ds vuqlkj fØehys;j esa ugha gksus laca/kh izek.k i= ,d o"kZ ds fy;s ekU; gksxkA

(v) vkosnu i= izLrqr djus ds i'pkr~ dksbZ izek.k i=@nLrkost u rks tksM+k tkosxk vkSj uk gh la'kksf/kr fd;k tkosxkA

5. The appellant filed the certificates dated 14.02.2002, 14.06.2010, 04.07.2013 and 18.07.2019 showing his status as OBC (NCL) candidate.

6. Evidently thus, the appellant was not entitled to be considered in the OBC (NCL) category because the certificates submitted by him did not affirm his status for previous one year with reference to the last date of submission of the online application forms. Thus, by no stretch of imagination, could the r