IMPORTANT POINT
Candidates must adhere to application guidelines and deadlines; negligence in application cannot be excused.

JUDGMENT :

BY THE COURT:-

1. The instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India have been preferred by the petitioners being aggrieved by the action of respondent No.1 for not considering the candidature of the petitioner for “Non-TSP area” in the selection process of Ayurveda Compounder/Nurse Junior Grade.

2. The facts relevant for disposal of the case are that the respondent No.1 issued an advertisement No.1/2023 (Annexure 1) inviting applications from the eligible candidates for recruitment on the posts of Compounder/Nurse Junior Grade lying vacant in the TSP and Non-TSP areas under the provisions of the Rajasthan Ayurvedic, Unani, Homeopathy and Naturopathy Subordinate Service Rules, 1966. The petitioners herein considering themselves to be eligible submitted the online application forms. As per the petitioners, they belong to Non-TSP area and as such, they submitted the application in the said category alongwith requisite domicile certificate, OBC certificate and the copies of the same are annexed with the writ petition (Annexure 2). The petitioners received email as well as SMS through e-mitra confirming the submission of the forms in Non-TSP area (Annexure 3). The last date for filling up the application form was 05.11.2023 (midnight) and there was a note appended to the advertisement mentioning that after submitting the application form, if any candidate wants to make an amendment/correction in the application form except generic data, then a window of 3 days will be available after the last date of submission of the application form, i.e. upto 08.11.2023. It is urged by the petitioners that they made certain minor corrections in the application forms during the aforesaid period, however, due to server or website problem, their category changed automatically from "Non-TSP" to "TSP" (Annexure 4). The petitioners came to know about this fact when the list of candidates for document verification and a date wise schedule programme for TSP area was issued and they found their name in the TSP category (Annexure 5). It is the case of the petitioners that they are permanent residents of Non-TSP area and since their names were not included in that category, their documents verification could not be made. The petitioners submitted representation to the respondents in this regard but to no avail (Annexure 6). Hence, they have approached this court by way of this writ petition.

3. The counsel for the petitioners seeks withdrawal of the S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 4033/2024 to the extent of petitioners no. 1 to 4 and petitioner no. 6.

4. The issue involved in this writ petition qua petitioner no.5 is squarely covered by the order passed by this court in the case of Reena Choudhary & Ors. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. [S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 10878/2024 decided on 22.08.2024], the relevant part of which is reproduced hereinbelow for the sake of ready reference:-

"3. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are meritorious candidates and have attained more than the cut off marks, but due to bonafide mistake, which occurred due to website problem, they are being deprived of recruitment, whereas the persons less meritorious than them are going to be appointed. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the selection process has yet not been completed and thus, no third party rights have been created, therefore, the respondents may be directed to allow the petitioners to make correction in their category and include them in the selection process in the category to which they belong. To substantiate his submission, learned counsel for the petitioners has place reliance on the following judgments :-

(1) Vashist Narayan Kumar Vs. State of Bihar & Ors. [AIR 2024 SC 248]

(2) Dolly Chhanda Vs. Chairman, JEE & Ors. [AIR 2004 SC 5043]

(3) State of Rajasthan & Ors. Vs. Prerna Suhalka (D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No.279/2016 decided on 16.07.2021)

(4) Prema Choudhary Vs. The Rajasthan High Cour