IMPORTANT POINT
The court upheld the necessity of valid caste certificates for reservation claims, ruling that failure to comply with submission requirements justifies classification under the unreserved category.

JUDGMENT :

Rajesh Shankar, J.

1. The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) in the subject ‘History and Civics’ (Direct Recruitment) for Deoghar district pursuant to Advertisement No.21/2016 issued by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) for making appointment of Trained Graduate Teachers of different subjects in Government Secondary Schools of all the districts of the State of Jharkhand. Further prayer has been made for quashing and setting aside the part of the important notice No.6864 dated 05.12.2018 (Annexure-10), so far it relates to the petitioner whose rejection remark has been mentioned at Serial No.8 of the subject ‘History and Civics’ (Direct Recruitment), whereby his candidature has been treated under unreserved category despite producing the certificate of BC-II category dated 17.03.2018 in course of document verification.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that Advertisement No.21/2016 was published by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) for conducting Combined Graduate Trained Teacher Competitive Examination, 2016 with respect to appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher of various subjects including the subject History and Civics in Government Secondary Schools of the State of Jharkhand. Pursuant to the said advertisement, the petitioner submitted his application for appointment on the said post in the subject ‘History and Civics’ under Direct Recruitment being a candidate of BC-II category and appeared in the written examination held on 19.11.2017. He qualified in the written examination and by way of an important notice he was asked to appear for documents verification on 26.09.2018 whereupon he appeared and produced all the required certificates including caste certificates dated 19.12.2016 and 17.03.2018 issued by the Circle Officer, Mohanpur and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Deoghar, respectively. However, a show cause notice dated 26.09.2018 was issued to the petitioner whereby he was asked to produce valid caste certificate by 03.10.2018, as he had submitted caste certificate of BC-II category issued by the Circle Officer at the time of filling up online application form. The petitioner replied the said notice stating inter alia that the caste certificate dated 17.03.2018 issued by the Sub-divisional Officer, Deoghar should be considered for extending the benefit of reservation under BC-II category. However, in the final result published and uploaded on the website of the Commission, the roll number of the petitioner did not figure. Thereafter, the petitioner was informed vide important notice No.6864 dated 05.12.2018 that his caste certificate of B.C.-II category was rejected and he was treated under unreserved category. Subsequently, he made a representation before the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, Ranchi on 31.12.2018 requesting to consider his case for appointment under BC-II category which remained unresponded.

3. It is also submitted that the petitioner secured 232 marks, whereas the last selected candidate under BC-II category secured 228 marks and as such he has got more marks than the last selected candidate of BC-II category, however, since the petitioner was not treated under BC-II category, he was not selected for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject ‘History and Civics’ pursuant to the said advertisement.

4. It is further submitted that the action of the respondent-JSSC in rejecting the candidature of the petitioner under BC-II category is highly arbitrary, illegal and colourable exercise of power in view of the fact that on the date of counselling/document verification, he had produced all the certificates including caste certificate dated 17.03.2018 issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, Deoghar. The respondents were duty bound to treat the petitioner’s candidature under BC-II category, a