IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that for claiming reservation benefits under the Jharkhand Reservation Rules, a caste certificate must be in the prescribed format that specifies the candidate's category and non-creamy layer status, and failure to comply with these requirements justifies rejection of candidature.

JUDGMENT :

Anubha Rawat Choudhary, J.

1. This writ petition has been filed for the following reliefs:-

(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ(s)/order(s)/direction(s) or a writ particularly in the nature of certiorari for quashing the decision of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission to reject the candidature of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Combined Assistant Engineer, in pursuance of the Advertisement No. 5/2019, for submitting the Caste Certificate in central format as apparent from the marks statement of petitioner uploaded on the website of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission on 04.06.2023 (Annexure-9) declaring the petitioner, not selected.

AND

(ii) For issuance of an appropriate writ(s)/order(s)/direction(s) or a writ particularly in the nature of mandamus commanding upon the concerned respondents to consider the candidature of the petitioner for selection as petitioner obtained more marks than final cut-off marks prescribed for unreserved category as well as BC-I category, and to recommend the name of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Assistant Civil Engineer in pursuance of the Advertisement No. 05/2019.

AND

(iii) For issuance of an appropriate writ(s)/order(s)/direction(s) or a writ particularly in the nature of mandamus commanding upon the concerned respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Assistant Civil Engineer in the concerned department of the Govt. of Jharkhand in view of the fact that the petitioner has qualified the preliminary test and main examination and obtained 150 marks in the interview and the total marks obtained by the petitioner being more than the final cut-off marks fixed for selection in the appropriate category i.e. BC-I and petitioner also obtained more marks than the minimum final cut-off marks fixed for selection in unreserved category.

AND/OR IN ALTERNATIVE

(iv) For issuance of an appropriate writ(s)/order(s)/direction(s) or a writ particularly in the nature of mandamus commanding upon the concerned respondents to consider the petitioner as unreserved category candidate for consideration of the case of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Assistant Civil Engineer in pursuance of the Advertisement No. 05/2019.

AND

(v) For issuance of an appropriate writ(s)/order(s)/direction(s) or a writ particularly in the nature of mandamus commanding upon the concerned respondents to keep a post of Assistant Civil Engineer in BC-I category vacant till final decision of this writ petition.

AND/OR

(vi) For further issuance of an appropriate writ (s)/ order(s) /direction (s) as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice.

A. Arguments of the Petitioner

2. The candidature of the petitioner has been rejected solely on the ground that the petitioner had submitted his caste certificate in central format. The caste certificate which was submitted by the petitioner is contained at page no. 48. The petitioner belongs to backward class (Annexure-1) i.e. BC-I Category which is also apparent from the certificate dated 19.08.2017 as contained at page no. 44 of the writ records. However, the same was not submitted before the concerned authority.

3. The petitioner had applied under BC-I category and passed the preliminary exam, as well as the mains exam.

4. At the stage of document verification, he produced the original documents and upon being satisfied, the petitioner was also permitted to participate in the interview and secured higher marks than the marks obtained by the candidate in the general category.

5. The learned counsel has submitted that the petitioner was asked to give a fresh caste certificate as the validity of the caste certificate had expired. Consequently, the petitioner submitted a fresh caste certificate on 27.01.2022 on page no. 47 at the time of document verification. He submits that after being satisfied with the candidature of the petitioner, the