Central government appointments follow strict Presidentially notified Scheduled Caste list under Article 341; state mergers or local corrigenda cannot include sub-castes listed as OBC.

O R D E R

Per- JUSTICE NARENDRA KUMAR JOHRI, MEMBER [J]

1.Instant Original Application has been filed by the applicant seeking the following relief(s):

“8.1 The rejection order dated 26th Dec 2018 issued by Dy. Director for Chairman, DRDO (Ann-A/6) be quashed.

8.2 The Respondents be directed not to give effect to the rejection order dated 26th Dec 2018 and to reconsider the case of this petitioner for his appointment on the selected post on and from the date of appointment of the 1st candidate lower to the petitioner in the recommended list of the UPSC with all consequential benefits.

8.3 The Respondents be directed to issue appointment letter to the petitioner on the basis of the corrigendum dated 26.05.2018 wherein the error on the report on caste certificate has been clarified and corrected.

8.4. The Respondents be directed petitioner and to issue appointment letter at par with the other selected candidates without any further delay.

8.5) The Respondents be directed to issue at least provisional appointment letter immediately in terms of their own circular/ OM dated 9th Sept 2005, March 2007 and 8th Oct 2015, if anything is yet to be verified.

8.6 Any other relief or reliefs for which the applicant is entitled to.”

2. The case of the applicant in nutshell is that the applicant was initially appointed in Indian Navy Service and retired on 31.01.2014 after 15 years continuous service. Thereafter, he joined in the office of Principal Accountant General (A&E), Jharkhand on 22.03.2016 under Ex- servicemen category (without opting for qualifying under caste category).

3. Before joining in the office of Principal Accountant General, pursuant to Advertisement No. 52/2016 dated 27.02.2016, he has applied for the post of Senior Administrative Officer Grade-I in Defence Research SINHA and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence. For selection, computer-based recruitment test was held on 22.05.2016 at Kolkata Centre. Thereafter, he was called for interview by the UPSC on 10.08.2016 and subsequently result was declared on 16.08.2016 wherein the applicant secured 2^nd rank in the seniority list under Scheduled Caste Category. The same was informed to the applicant by the UPSC vide letter dated 22.08.2016. After publication of result a letter was issued by the Under Secretary (SPC-I) UPSC wherein the applicant was informed that his name has been recommended for post of Sr. Administrative Officer, Grade I and the offer of appointment will be made to him only after the government satisfaction.

4. Thereafter, applicant was directed to furnish the required information/documents relating to educational qualification, experience certificate, caste certificate and vide letter dated 18^th April 2017, the Dy. Director (Per-AA1) for Chairman, DRDO directed the petitioner to furnish two required documents for verification of character and Antecedents. The required information was furnished by the applicant vide his representation dated 25.10.2016 and 1^st May 2017.

5. The caste certificate furnishedby him was sent for verification and after verification report was sent to the DRDO wherein his case was filled as TATWA instead of PAN as a result the letter from SDM office mentioned caste in the first Para as TATWA while in second Para it was filled as PAN which was forwarded to DRDO.

6. The applicant, after knowing error in his caste certificate, he made representation on 01.04.2018 and online reply was also received from DRDO