ORDER :

1. This writ petition has been preferred under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, claiming the following reliefs :

"It is, therefore, most humbly and respectfully prayed on behalf of petitioner that this writ petition may kindly be allowed and record of the case may kindly be called for and.

(a) By an appropriate writ, order or direction, any rejection made on the application dated 13.04.2023 (although no communicated in writing) may kindly be quashed and set aside.

(b) By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may kindly to add the further category of petitioner as General Widow Women in pursuance to her application dated 13.04.2023.

(c) By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may kindly be directed to consider the candidature of the petitioner under General Widow Women Category and consequently, if the petitioner falling in the cut-off of General Widow women Category, she may be permitted to participate in further recruitment process under General Women Widow Category.

(d) By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may kindly be directed to give appointment to the petitioner under General Widow Women Category, if she is found otherwise eligible and meritorious in pursuance to the selection process under advertisement dated 05.08.2022 with all consequential benefits.

(e) Any other appropriate writ, order or direction, which this Hon'ble court considers just and proper in the facts and circumstances of this case, may kindly be passed in favour of the petitioner.

(f) Costs of the writ petition may kindly be awarded to the petitioner."

2. Brief facts of this case, as placed before this Court by Mr. Khet Singh Rajpurohit, learned counsel for the petitioner, are that the petitioner was married to one Sh. Narendra Sharma on 23.11.2005. The petitioner being an educated and qualified person, for participating in the recruitment process for the posts of Junior Judicial Assistant, Judicial Assistant and Clerk Grade-II in the year 2020, submitted his online application form in the EWS Category, in pursuance of the advertisement issued by the respondent. The said recruitment process was initiated for filling up the vacancies (the above-mentioned posts) under the establishment of the Rajasthan High Court as well as the District Courts and the Legal Services Authority.

2.1. The initial advertisement was withdrawn and fresh advertisement came to be issued with the same number of vacancies on 05.08.2022, in which the petitioner stood as an aspiring candidate in the General (Women) Category as she was not having EWS certificate at that time. The last date for filling the application form was 22.09.2022. The petitioner appeared in the written examination on 12.03.2023. In the meanwhile, the husband of the petitioner unfortunately expired on 22.03.2023 while being under treatment at Ahmedabad. The death certificate dated 24.03.2023 is placed on record as Annexure-7 of the petition.

2.2. The petitioner immediately moved an application on 13.04.2023 after performing the last rites and rituals of her late husband, submitting therewith the death certificate before the respondent so that she could be treated in the category of Widow for the purpose of recruitment process in question. Such submission was done away with before the Phase-I of the recruitment, that is before declaration of the results, however, the petitioner was informed, via telephonic call, that her category could not be changed. Meanwhile, the results were declared for the Phase-I and the cut off marks for General (Women) Category were 196.3451 marks, whereas the cut off marks for General (Widow) Category were 135.0103 marks (for non-TSP area posts). The petitioner secured 147.5228 marks in the Phase-I, which made her fall within the domain of successful candidate in General (Widow) Category.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in support of the above factual matrix, relied upon the judgment rendered by this Court in D.B.