IMPORTANT POINT
A valid OBC certificate must be possessed at the time of application submission to qualify for reservation benefits, not merely at the time of document verification.

JUDGMENT :

Heard Sri Pranjal Mehrotra learned counsel for the appellant as well as Sri Vinod Kumar learned counsel for the respondents/writ petitioners.

2. This intra-Court appeal is against the judgment and the order dated 2.12.2022 passed in Writ A No. 15830 of 2022 (Rahul Kumar v. State of U.P. and others) whereby the writ petition of the writ petitioner was allowed. The case of the writ petitioner before the learned Single Judge was that an advertisement was published on 22.6.2021 for recruitment on the post of Community Health Officers (in short 'CCHN') for as many as 2,800 vacancies. As per the advertisement, the tentative dates for filling of online application form was 30.6.2021 and the closure of online application form was 20.7.2021. The writ petitioner claiming himself to be fully eligible and qualified in all respects applied in pursuance of the said advertisement under OBC category. On the basis of disclosure made in the application form submitted online, the writ petitioner was subjected to written examination, pursuant to which a final result of selected candidates were declared on 23.1.2021, however, the name of the writ petitioner found missing. It is the case of the writ petitioner that another list of selected candidates was published on 13.4.2022 in which the name of the writ petitioner figured at serial No. 854 under OBC category depicting that the petitioner was accorded posting at District Women Hospital, Gorakhpur. The writ petitioner approached the District Women Hospital at Gorakhpur on 18.4.2022 for being accorded joining and be sent for training. The writ petitioner alleges that the clerk in the office of the Chief Medical Officer asked for the testimonials and during the course of document verification an objections was raised that the writ petitioner did not produce the caste certificate as required under the advertisement. It is further the case of the writ petitioner that he had already produced the caste certificate showing him to be under OBC category dated 8.11.2013, however, on the objections raised by the respondents, he produced another caste certificate dated 8.9.2021 issued by the Tehsildar showing him to be an OBC category candidate. Since the writ petitioner was not sent for training, so the writ petitioner preferred Writ A No. 7362 of 2022 (Rahul Kumar v. State of U.P. and others) before this Court which on being taken up by the learned Single Judge on 8.8.2022, on the instructions obtained by the learned Standing Counsel that during the pendency of the said writ petition on 11.5.2022 the appointment of the writ petitioner was canceled, the writ petition was disposed of with the direction of the concerned authority to provide a copy of the order dated 11.5.2022 cancelling the appointment of the writ petitioner within a period of 7 days and liberty was accorded to the writ petitioner to challenge the same if aggrieved before the appropriate forum.

3. Questioning the order dated 11.5.2022/18.5.2022 placing his name in the waiting list and the order dated 15.9.2022 the writ petitioner preferred Writ A No. 15830 of 2022 (Rahul Kumar v. State of U.P. and others) seeking the following reliefs :

''(i) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 11.5.2022/IInd waiting 18.5.2022 and 15.9.2022 passed by respondent No. 2 respectively (Annexure 9) to the writ petition.

(ii) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent authorities to permit the petitioner to participate in the on-going training provisionally for the post of Community Health Officer.

(Iii) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents authorities to protect the seniority of the petitioner at par with his juniors as and when he may succeed to get his joining on the selected post i.e. Community Health Officer.

(iv) Issue any other suitable writ order or direction as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper under th