The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of adhering to the prescribed qualifications and conditions by the last date of application submission, including the submission of valid certificates within the specified period. The judgment emphasizes the significance of timely compliance with eligibility criteria and the impact of corrigendums on the eligibility requirements.

JUDGMENT

G.S. Sandhawalia, J. - The present judgment shall dispose of LPA-1233, 1256, 1270 & 1732-2016, the first three Letters Patent Appeals arise out of the common judgment passed by the Learned Single Judge dated 16.02.2016 wherein CWP-22198-2012 titled Charanjit Kaur Vs. State of Punjab & others, CWP-3065-2013 titled Ravinder Kumar Vs. State of Punjab & others & CWP-5685-2013 titled Raminder Kaur Vs. State of Punjab & others were dismissed and the claim of the appellants-writ petitioners for appointment to the post of Science Master/Mistress was repelled.

2. Similarly, LPA-1732-2016 arises out of judgment passed by the Learned Single Judge in CWP-13845-2016 titled Gurbax Singh Vs. State of Punjab & others, wherein the claim for appointment to the post of Punjabi Master in the category of Scheduled Caste(M&B)/Ex- serviceman (Dependent) had been rejected. Since the advertisement is common and the principle is common, the present consideration is being done jointly by this Court.

3. The reasoning given by the Learned Single Judge in the first set of 3 appeals was that consideration under the Reserved Category of Backward Class unlike the Scheduled Caste was a shifting boundary on account of the income limit as per the instructions of the Punjab Government and it could not be compared to the members of the Scheduled Caste Category who are governed by the status at birth without any income criteria. Resultantly, it was held that the petitioner had not produced the Backward Class certificate on the date of the application within the range of one year prior to the last date of application and she relied upon a certificate dated 14.09.2007 which was stale and it could not be her case that she was eligible on the date when she applied.

4. Resultantly, keeping in view the conditions of the advertisement wherein it was prescribed that all the prescribed qualifications had to be fulfilled on the last date of submission of the application and that said certificate should be valid within a period of one year from the last date of submission of the application, as per the instructions issued on 17.01.1994 (Annexure P-4/1) and 17.08.2005 (Annexure P-15). It was held that the petitioner was fully aware of the prescribed qualifications which had to be met on or before the last date of submission of the application. Resultantly, it was held that the instructions are directive in nature and candidate could not insist that relaxation could be awarded in the eligibility conditions.

5. Reliance was also placed upon the earlier judgment passed in CWP-5560-2011 titled Jaspal Kaur & others Vs. State of Punjab & others on 02.11.2011 wherein the issue had been decided against the petitioners by reading condition Nos.4 & 5 against them and it was held that the certificate dated 10.11.2009 (Annexure P-2) was not liable to be considered since it was one day after the cut-off date. The revision of the merit list had been done on account of the orders passed by the Division Bench in CWP-12275-2000 titled Neelam Rani Vs. State of Punjab & others and other connected cases decided on 08.01.2010 wherein seniority-list of both male and female Teachers were to be merged. The petitioner having secured only 64.666 was not liable to be considered against the General Category whereby the cut-off was 65.2255. Once she was not to be considered as a Backward Class candidate. On the issue of discrimination and comparison regarding one Gurdeep Singh and Gyatri Jyoti, it was held that the terms and conditions were different and it was a different advertisement. The case of Mamta Rani was distinguished on account of the fact that she had submitted the Scheduled Caste Certificate which would be valid as there was no element of creamy-layer wherein Jaswinder Singh's certificate had been issued on 05.10.2009, prior to the last date of submission of the application which was 09.10.2009. It was further held that if any such benefit was to be granted it would open up a Pandora's Bo