$~

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment reserved on: 25.02.2026 Judgment pronounced on: 18.03.2026 Judgment uploaded on: 18.03.2026 + W.P.(C) 15587/2025 SONIKA ARYA .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Anil Singhal, Adv.

Versus GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI THROUGH ITS CHIEF SECRETARY & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Ms. Avnish Ahlawat, SC along with Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, Ms. Aliza Alam and Mr.

Mohnish Sehrawat, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KSHETARPAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN

J U D G M E N T

ANIL KSHETARPAL, J.:

1. Through the present Petition, the Petitioner seeks issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari by assailing the order dated 09.09.2025 [hereinafter referred to as the ‘Impugned Order’] passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi [hereinafter referred to as ‘Tribunal] in Original Application (‘O.A.’) No. 4229/2017 captioned Mrs Sonika Arya v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors., whereby the OA preferred by the Petitioner came to be dismissed.

2. By way of the said OA, the Petitioner had sought a direction to the Respondents to consider her for appointment to the post of PGT (Sanskrit) - (Female) under Post Code 178/14 against an unfilled vacancy in the Other Backward Classes (‘OBC’) category. The Petitioner was placed at Serial No. 2 in the unselected OBC waitlist pursuant to Advertisement No. 01/14 issued by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (‘DSSSB’).

3. The learned Tribunal, while noticing that one of the four advertised OBC vacancies remained unfilled and that the candidature of one selected OBC candidate was ultimately cancelled, declined relief to the Petitioner on the ground that the waiting panel had expired on 09.10.2017 and that the cancellation of the said candidature on 05.09.2018 could not revive or extend an exhausted panel.

4. In order to appreciate the issue involved in this Petition, relevant facts, in brief, are required to be noticed.

5. DSSSB issued Advertisement No.01/14 in the year 2014, inviting applications for, inter alia, the post of PGT (Sanskrit) (Female) under Post Code 178/14. Sixteen vacancies (UR-07, OBC- 04, SC-02, ST-03 including 01 OH and 01 VH) were notified for the said post, out of which four vacancies were earmarked for the OBC category. The Petitioner participated in the selection process and applied for the same in the OBC category.

6. Upon declaration of the result on 10.10.2016, three candidates were declared successful in the OBC Category and appointed, whereas the candidature of one selected OBC candidate bearing Roll No.

35002828 was kept pending for verification of her OBC certificate.

7. The Petitioner was placed at Serial No. 2 in the unselected OBC waitlist and was called for document verification. The fourth advertised OBC vacancy remained unfilled on account of the pending verification of the aforesaid candidate for a considerable time.

8. The Petitioner sought clarification regarding the status of the fourth vacancy from the DSSSB, and was informed that the candidature of the said candidate was still under consideration.

9. In the aforesaid backdrop, the Petitioner instituted O.A. No. 4229/2017 before the learned Tribunal in November 2017, seeking consideration for appointment against the said vacancy. During the pendency of the proceedings, the candidature of the fourth selected candidate bearing Roll No. 35002828, vide Result Notice No. 714 dated 05.09.2018, was cancelled.

10. The Respondents, however, took the position before the learned Tribunal that the waiting panel was valid only for a period of one year from the date of declaration of the result, i.e., till 09.10.2017, and since the cancellation of the fourth candidature occurred thereafter, the Petitioner could not be considered for appointment.

11. The learned Tribunal dismissed the Original Application of the Petitioner, holding that the OA had been filed in November 2017, i.e. after the expiry of the waiting panel in October 2017. The cancellation of Roll