CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI OA. No.1507/2019 Reserved on 26.03.2025 Pronounced on 21.05.2025 Hon’ble Ms. Harvinder Kaur Oberoi, Member (J)

Hon’ble Dr. Sumeet Jerath, Member (A)

1. Monika Yadav D/o Shri Jagdish Chandra Yadav R/o Gali No. 4, Near Surakhpur Road Najafgarh, New Delhi-110043 Aged about 28 years (Group 'B')

(Candidate towards the post code 93/17)

2. Shabnam D/o Shri Prem Singh R/o V.P.O. Dubaldhan (G), Distt. Jhajjar, Teh. Beri, Haryana - 124202.

Aged about 25 years (Group 'B')

(Candidate towards the post code 93/17)

.… Applicants (By Advocate : Mr. Ajesh Luthra)

VERSUS

1. GNCT of Delhi Through its Chief Secretary, A-Wing, 5th Floor, Delhi Secretariat, I.P. Estate New Delhi

2. Directorate of Education Through its Director GNCT of Delhi Old Secretariat Delhi-54 .... RESPONDENTS (By Advocate : Mr. H.A. Khan)

ORDER Hon’ble Ms. Harvinder Kaur Oberoi, Member (J)

The present Original Application (OA) has been filed by the applicants under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, seeking the following relief(s):-

“a) Call for the records of the case;

b) Direct the respondents to evaluate the OMR answer sheets of the applicants and further consider the applicants case for appointment as per their merit position along with others;

c) Accord all consequential benefits;

d) Award costs of the proceedings; and e) Pass any order/relief/direction(s) as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the interests of justice in favour of the applicants.”

2. Learned counsel for the applicants submitted that Respondent No. 2 had issued Advertisement No. 04/17, Post Code 93/17, for the post of PGT (Home Science) (Female) in the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCT) of Delhi. The applicants, being fully eligible under the terms of the advertisement, applied under the General Category. Upon scrutiny, they were allotted Roll Nos. 2500002685 and 2500003916, respectively, and were issued admit cards to appear in the written examination held on 19.08.2018.

3. The applicants appeared at their respective Examination Centres, namely, SKV No. 2, C Block, Yamuna Vihar, Delhi-110053 (near Punjabi Rasoi), and Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Roshanara Road, near Subzi Mandi Ghanta Ghar, Delhi-110007. However, there was a delay in the distribution of the Question Paper and OMR Answer Sheet, causing disturbance to several candidates, including the applicants. In the process, while one of the applicants correctly wrote his Roll Number in numerals in the designated box, he inadvertently blackened an incorrect digit while encoding the same. Upon noticing the error, the applicant immediately sought permission from the Invigilator to rectify it. The Invigilator permitted the correction; however, as a result, both the incorrect and correct digits remained blackened. The Invigilator assured the applicant that this minor error would be overlooked during the evaluation process. However, it appears that due to this minor discrepancy in bubbling the Roll Number, the applicant’s OMR sheet was not evaluated, and consequently, his result has not been declared.

4. Learned counsel for the applicants argued that the issue raised herein is squarely covered by several earlier decisions of this Tribunal, including OA No. 215/2017, which was upheld by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in its judgment dated 10.08.2017. It was held therein that a bona fide mistake in bubbling, where the roll number has been correctly written and the discrepancy brought to the notice of the Invigilator, should not result in cancellation of candidature.

5. In the present case, the applicants correctly mentioned the Roll Number in numerals. The bubbling error was brought to the notice of the Invigilator, who permitted the rectification. However, it appears the respondents failed to take this into account and rejected the applicant's candidature.

6. The learned counsel submitted that the applicants had also raised objections against erroneous questions in the answer