* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 21.10.2024 Pronounced on: 07.11.2024 + W.P.(C) 9453/2023 VIKKI KUMAR PASWAN .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Abhinay Sharma, Mr.

Pooran Chand Roy, Ms. Deeksha Prakash, Ms. Parul Khurana & Ms. Kirti Vyas, Advs. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS .....Respondents Through: Mr. Umesh K. Burnwal, SPC with Mr. Amit Gupta, Mr. Harish Adhikari & Mr. Kunal Malik, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAVIN CHAWLA HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE SHALINDER KAUR SHALINDER KAUR, J.

1. By way of the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, who is aspiring to join the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) as a Navik (Domestic Branch) in pursuance to the selection process conducted in accordance with Notification No. 01/2023, has approached this court assailing the respondents’ decision to cancel his candidature.

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2. A brief factual background, as emanating from the record, is that the petitioner is a resident of District Ballia in Uttar Pradesh and is a Scheduled Caste candidate who had graduated high school in the year 2017. Pursuant to the respondents issuing the Notification No.01/2023 for recruitment to the post of Navik (D), Navik (Domestic Branch) and Yantrik in the Indian Coast Guard, the petitioner appeared for the Coast Guard Navik (DB)-01/2023 Stage-I examination on 22.11.2022. Before the commencement of such examination, each candidate appearing for the said examination had to provide (i) a photo identity proof which was checked at the entrance of the examination center; (ii) the candidate’s photo was captured through a webcam and thumb impressions were taken as biometrics; and (iii) signatures of each candidate were taken on the attendance sheet.

3. Upon the petitioner clearing the Stage-I examination on 26.11.2022, he was issued an E-admit card for the Stage-II examination on 10.01.2023 and he appeared for the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) in Visakhapatnam on 09.01.2023. Before appearing for the Stage-II examination, the petitioner was required to upload certain supporting documents. Upon uploading the said documents, the petitioner’s candidature was rejected on the ground that there was a discrepancy in the name of the father of the petitioner in the Class-X as well as in the Caste Certificate. The Caste Certificate read the petitioner’s father’s name as “Vikrma Paswan” whereas the Class-X certificate read the same as “Vikram Paswan”.

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4. Aggrieved by the rejection of his candidature, the petitioner approached this Court by way of a writ petition, being W.P.(C) 8451/2023. This Court, vide its order dated 12.06.2023, held that the error was merely typographical, and allowed the petitioner to participate in the Stage-III induction training.

5. The petitioner then reported for the Stage-III induction at INS Chilka on 16.06.2023 and submitted all his original documents for verification. The Coast Guard officials, after scrutinizing the documents and carrying out the biometrics, found the petitioner’s data to be correct as per the advertisement guidelines of the CGEPT 01/2023 batch. Thereafter, the petitioner was required to provide his mobile phone number so that his Aadhaar Card history could be verified. On the respondents perusing the same, the petitioner was informed that due to multiple updates and corrections, his identity was doubtful and therefore, he could not be permitted to join training.

6. To prove his identity, the petitioner submitted various other documents that would verify the veracity of his identity. Once these documents were scrutinized, the petitioner was allowed to appear for the final medical test as part of the Stage-III induction, conditional on his submitting an undertaking. The petitioner, in pursuance to this condition set out, submitted an undertaking on 17.06.2023, explaining the circumstances under which he applied to make