A genuine candidate facing procedural difficulties should not be denied rightful selection based on technical lapses caused by external circumstances.

ORDER Per: - Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member

1. The applicants have filed the present Original Application under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 seeking the following reliefs: -

a) “allow the instant Original Application;

b) quash impugned final selection list dated 07.03.2024 to the extent the recommendation of the applicant against the post of Accounts Assistant has been kept withheld;

c) direct the respondents more particularly respondent no. 2 to release the recommendation of the applicant against the post of Accounts Assistant which has been illegally withheld by the respondents after deleting the remarks regarding the withholding of the recommendation of the applicant against the post of Accounts Assistant Finance under OSC category;

d) direct the respondent no. 1 to issue appointment order in favour of the applicant after the recommendation in favour of the applicant is released by the respondent no. 2;

e) restrain the respondents from cancelling the candidature of the applicant for the post of Accounts Assistant Finance under OSC category;

f) ANY other order or direction which this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit or proper in the facts and circumstances of the case;”

2. The facts of the case as averred by the applicant in his pleadings, are as follows: -

a) The applicant applied for the post of Accounts Assistant in the Finance Department under the OSC (Other Social Caste) category pursuant to Advertisement Notification No. 04 of 2020 dated 16.12.2020, issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (J&K SSB). The last date for submission of applications was initially 16.01.2021, later extended to

27.01.2021.

b) The applicant belongs to the OSC category and was issued an OSC certificate on 29.10.2014 by the competent authority. After her marriage in 2016 to a resident of Bari Brahmana, the applicant shifted her residence, and the OSC certificate issued earlier remained valid until 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in 2021, the applicant was unable to get the OSC certificate renewed in time, though she eventually obtained the renewal certificate on 18.05.2022.

c) The applicant participated in the written OMR-based test conducted on 28.01.2024, and her name appeared at Sr. No. 1 under the OSC category in the provisional shortlist dated 26.02.2024. However, in the final selection list dated 07.03.2024, the recommendation in her favor was withheld with the remark: “Recommendation withheld subject to production of valid within date domicile and OSC certificate.”

d) The applicant asserts that she was a permanent resident of J&K, holding a Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC), which under the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020, deemed her to be a domicile of the UT of J&K. Therefore, she contends, no fresh domicile certificate was required.

e) Regarding the OSC certificate, the applicant maintains that she belonged to the OSC category at the time of advertisement and had duly declared the same in her application form. She was unable to produce the renewed certificate at the time due to circumstances beyond her control, including the pandemic, but made efforts to regularize the documentation afterward.

f) The Tehsildar Bari Brahmana, through a communication dated

22.02.2024, confirmed that the applicant was eligible for the domicile and OSC certificates before the cut-off date and emphasized that she belonged to the OSC category from the date of her marriage.

g) The applicant relies on the judgment of the Hon’ble High Court of J&K in Competent Authority Entrance Examinations J&K Jammu vs. Mahesh Kumar Raina, which held that if a candidate declares eligibility under a reserved category