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2022 Supreme(All) 444
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
ATTAU RAHMAN MASOODI, J.
Shalu Verma – Appellant
Versus
State Of U.P. Thru Prin. Secy. Dept. Of Home Lko And Anr. – Respondents
Writ A No.26732 of 2019
Decided on : 13-04-2022
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : Sunil Kumar, Vikrant Prakash
Point of Law - Court accordingly directs the competent authority to proceed with the benefit of selection including notional seniority as has accrued to the petitioner at par with the other selected candidates having equal merit or less.
Headnote:
Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 14 and 16 – Equality before law - Scope of judicial review - Advertisement for filling up posts of Constable(Female) in police department U.P. were advertised by Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, pursuant to which, petitioner applied and her application form having been found complete in all respects was scrutinized and included in process of selection - Whether petitioner produced original OBC certificate or not has to be tested from original record - Whether a candidate demanded an opportunity or not – Court accordingly directs the competent authority to proceed with the benefit of selection including notional seniority as has accrued to the petitioner at par with the other selected candidates having equal merit or less.
Findings of the Court :
It is clear that cut-off marks of general category candidates are shown to be above whereas cut-off marks for OBC - On basis of marks obtained by petitioner while belonging to OBC category, she has clearly qualified benchmark and she is thus entitled to be included amongst selected candidates of OBC category - Once a candidate having marks was appointed, as to why a candidate obtaining marks may not have preferential right remains inexplicable by State - Individual right which had accrued to petitioner was not open to be frustrated on strength of any irrelevant document of which production does not seem to be in course of prudent behaviour particularly when there is no mention in original record that petitioner had failed to produce original OBC category certificate recording of consequence i.e. 'General’ unless backed by an authentic proof of failure to produce category certificate, in Court humble view, is an arbitrary act falling within scope of judicial review and Court would not shut doors of justice in a case like one at hand.
Result - Writ petition is allowed
JUDGMENT :
1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Rahul Shukla learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State.
2. The process of recruitment in a level playing field is bound to be tested on the touchstone of equality in every case. This is what Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India guarantee to every participating candidate in the selection process.
3. In the present case, the advertisement for filling up the posts of Constable(Female) in the police department U.P. were advertised by the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board on 29.12.2015, pursuant to which, the petitioner applied and her application form having been found complete in all respects was scrutinized and included in the process of selection. The petitioner in the application form had identified her candidature as OBC category candidate on the basis of a validly issued certificate in her favour on 4.2.2016. There is specific mention of the category i.e. OBC relating to the petitioner in her application form. The petitioner was included in the selection process as OBC category candidate. The process of selection for the purposes of evaluation of merit comprised of assessment of marks based on her performance in the high school and intermediate besides in the physical efficiency test. In the final evaluation of marks on the basis of parameters prescribed for selection, the petitioner admittedly has scored 417.9 marks. As per the process of selection all the selected candidates on the basis of their final selection based on merit are subjected to document verification and physical standard test. This is an independent process passing which final select list in the respective categories is drawn. The petitioner having qualified on the basis of merit in OBC category was subjected to the documents verification test and physical standard test on 20.7.2017.
4. This Court having regard to paragraph 14 and 15 of the writ petition read in conjunction with paragraph 8 of the short counter affidavit passed an order on 12.4.2022. The order passed on 12.4.2022 reads as under :-
"Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the State.
Denial of appointment to the petitioner though selected appears to be grossly discriminatory.
Let Additional Secretary(Recruitment), Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board appear before this Court along with the relevant record of the case tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.
List/put up tomorrow i.e. 13.4.2022 at 10.30 a.m.
Learned Standing Counsel undertakes to communicate a copy of this order to the Principal Secretary(Recruitment), Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board during course of the day".
5. Pursuant to the order passed by this Court on 12.4.2022, Sri Sureshwar, Additional Secretary(Recruitment), Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board is present in person along with the relevant record. The photocopies of the relevant record are kept on file.
6. This Court has taken pain to go through the record emperically.
7. Sri Rahul Shukla, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel has also elaborated the position ably in the light of the record.
8. The Court would gather that the committee while verifying the documents produced by the petitioner has recorded the details as under :
UTTAR PRADESH POLICE RECRUITMENT AND PROMOTION BOARD Direct Recruitment of Constable and Equivalent Posts-2015 DV Report
| ROLL NO | 00041136 | GENDER | Female |
| NAME | SHALU VERMA | FATHER/HUSBAND NAME | SHIV KUMAR |
| DOB | 20/02/1979 | AGE | 18 Year(s) 4 Month(s)9 Day(s) |
| DOMICILE OF U.P. | Yes | GOVT. EMPLOYEE | No |
| CATEGORY | GENERAL | CATEGORY CERTIFICATE | No |
| DFF | No | DOEACC-OE | No |
| HOME-GUARD | No | NCC-B | No |
| T ARMY | No | TWELFTH MARKS % | 77.2 |
| TENTH MARKS % | 79.5 | QUALIFYING MARKS % | 210.17 |
| CALCULATED AS | |||
