Advocates:
['HRIDAYA NARAIN SINGH', 'A S G I', '', 'KRISHNA DEO RAI']

Court No. - 36

Case :- WRIT - A No. - 5874 of 2022

Petitioner :- Ajit Yadav

Respondent :- Union Of India And 4 Others

Counsel for Petitioner :- Hridaya Narain Singh

Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Krishna Deo Rai

Hon'ble Saurabh Shyam Shamshery,J.

Heard Shri. Hridaya Narain Singh, learned counsel for the

petitioner, Shri.Krishna Deo Rai, learned counsel for the

respondents and perused the records.

This writ petition has been filed seeking following reliefs:

"(i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Certiorari

quashing the impugned order dated 21.02.2022 passed by

respondent no.5/Commandant (pers-II), S.S.B., East Block-V,

R.K.Puram, New Delhi (Annexure No.9 to this writ petition).

(ii) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus

commanding the respondents to appoint the petitioner on the

post of constable (General Duty) in Sashtra Seema Bal (S.S.B.).

(iii) issue any other writ order or direction which this Hon'ble

Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and

circumstances of the case.

(iv) award costs to the petition in favour of the petitioner."

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner

applied for the post of Constable (GD) in pursuance of an

advertisement for selection and appointment of Constable in

CAPFS/NIA/SSF Rifleman in Assam Rifle Examination, 2018.

Petitioner became successful in the written examination and an

E-Admit Card was issued to him for physical efficiency test. He

successfully passed the said test and a certificate in this regard

was issued by the respondent authorities on 14.8.2019 and

thereafter appointment letter was issued on 16.3.2021.

Counsel for the petitioner submits that a letter dated 28.1.2020

was sent to the petitioner to produce a caste certificate in the

prescribed format and the said document was required to be

produced before 5.2.2020.

It is admitted case that the petitioner has not produced the caste

certificate in the prescribed format and he produced caste

certificate on 15.6.2021 issued by the Government of West

Bengal which was admittedly not in the prescribed format and

thereafter by a letter dated 25.6.2021, time was further

extended upto 9.9.2021 with the condition that no further

request for extension will be entertained as "An offer of

appointment lapse automatically after the expiry of six months

from the date of issue of the original offer of appointment".

Counsel for the petitioner fairly submits that petitioner has not

filed any caste certificate in the prescribed format and thereafter

by impugned order dated 21.2.2022, appointment letter issued

to the petitioner was cancelled as he has failed to submit the

caste certificate in prescribed format. He further submits that in

the advertisement there was no condition to submit the caste

certificate in any prescribed format, therefore, to insist the

petitioner to submit caste certificate in prescribed format is

erroneous and the caste certificate issued in the year 2013 as

well as the caste certificate issued by the government of West

Bengal could be considered to a valid caste certificate,

therefore, the impugned order is erroneous and the same be set-

aside.

Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents submits that in

the advertisement it has been mentioned that caste certificate

has to be submitted as per prescribed format which was

admittedly not submitted though time was granted upto

9.9.2021. In the communication dated 28.1.2020, a copy of

prescribed format was also send.

A Full Bench of this Court in Gaurav Sharma and Ors Vs.

State of U.P. & Ors, 2017 (5) ADJ 494 has considered the

following questions:

" A. Whether the candidature of an OBC candidate is liable to

be rejected on the ground of the caste certificate having been

submitted after the last date for submission of applications?

B. Whether the decision in Arvind Kumar Yadav lays down and

represents t