Court No. - 37

Case :- WRIT - A No. - 10701 of 2022

Petitioner :- Dr. Ritu Kapoor

Respondent :- The Union Of India And 2 Others

Counsel for Petitioner :- Shivendu Ojha,Sneh Pandey,Sr.

Advocate

Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I., Kshitij Shailendra

Hon'ble Manish Mathur,J.

No one has appeared on behalf of respondent no.1.

Heard Sri Radha Kant Ojha, learned Senior Counsel assisted by

Sri Shivendu Ojha for the petitioner and Sri Kshitij Shailendra,

learned counsel for the respondents no.2 and 3.

Writ petition has been filed seeking a direction to the

respondent-University

to treat the petitioner in the

Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category for considering

selection on the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of

Chemistry, University of Allahabad.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that an advertisement

was issued on 28.09.2021 requiring applications for selection

on the post of Assistant Professor in the subject of Chemistry.

The advertisement discloses that three posts were reserved

under the EWS category. It is further submitted that although

the petitioner belongs to the EWS category but did not have

certificate to substantiate the same and, therefore, she filed an

application for grant of EWS certificate on 02.11.2021 and

received the same on 20.11.2021 but in the meantime the last

date of filing application for selection indicated in

advertisement as 06.11.2021 passed by which date admittedly

the petitioner did not have EWS certificate. It is submitted that

due to said fact petitioner applied under the unreserved

category. It is further submitted that considering the fact that

EWS certificate was actually received by the petitioner

subsequently, therefore, there is no fault on her account and

therefore her candidature should be considered by authorities

under the said category instead of general category.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondents has refuted

submission advanced by learned counsel for petitioner and

submitted that petitioner herself applied under the unreserved

category not under the EWS category. He further submitted that

the advertisement itself clearly specifies under General

Instructions ('xii') that candidates belonging to EWS category

should submit proper certificate as per the proforma of Govt. of

India. It is submitted that said certificate was required to be

submitted in a soft copy, original being required at the time of

interview, therefore, soft copy was mandatorily required to be

attached to the application form and that having not been done,

no benefit accrued to the petitioner.

He has also placed reliance upon the judgment of Full Bench of

this Court in the case of Gaurav Sharma vs. State of U.P. and

others 2017 (5) ADJ 494.

Upon consideration of submission advanced by learned counsel

for the parties and perusal the material on record, it is evident

from the General Instructions attached to the Advertisement that

candidates belonging to EWS category should submit proper

certificate as per the proforma of Govt. of India. Last date of

submission of application form is indicated as 06.11.2021.

Upon consideration, it is apparent that subsequent grant of EWS

certificate to the petitioner would be no consequence in the

present case since the petitioner herself has applied under the

unreserved category. It is also an admitted fact that as on the

last date of submission of application form, petitioner did not

possess EWS certificate issued in the proforma as per

Government of India. The Full Bench judgement in the case of

Gaurav Sharma (supra) also has answered the question

whether the candidature of OBC candidate is liable to be

rejected on the account of such certificate having been

submitted after last date of submission of application. The Full

Bench has answered reference to question no.1 in the negative

to hold that an OBC candidate is not exempt from t