JUDGMENT

A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

The Kerala Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'the PSC' for short) is the petitioner herein, aggrieved by the order dated 22.10.2021 of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal in O.A.No.1344 of 2020.

2. The brief facts necessary for the disposal of this OP(KAT) are as follows:

The PSC had invited applications for selection to the post of Higher Secondary School Teacher (Junior) (English) in the Kerala Higher Secondary Education Department, through a notification dated 18.08.2017. The last date for submission of applications was 29.09.2017, and the applications had to be submitted through a 'One Time Registration' facility provided in the official website of the Commission. It is not in dispute that the applicant Smt. Babitha V also submitted an application through the portal, in which she had shown her community status as Other Backward Community (OBC). It is relevant to note that at the time of submitting the application through the web portal of the PSC, the registration particulars entered by the applicant in the said portal indicated that she belonged to the Hindu 'Arya' community.

3. In the short list that was published by the PSC on 25.02.2019, the applicant Smt.Babitha V was included in the supplementary list of OBC on the basis of her claim in the application that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Arya' community under the OBC category. However, at the time of inviting candidates for the interview, when she was asked to upload the necessary documents certifying her community status, she uploaded a document which indicated that she belonged to the 'Hindu- Araya' community and also produced a Non Creamy Layer Certificate issued by the Village Officer, Thiruvangad. It is not in dispute that in the meanwhile, the applicant had also corrected her profile in the website of the PSC to read that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Araya' community. The PSC, taking note of the disparity in the certificates subsequently uploaded by the applicant and the declaration that was originally contained in the web portal at the time of entertaining the application, did not include the applicant in the rank list that was published on 10.10.2019. This led the applicant to approach the Tribunal, which passed the order impugned in this OP(KAT).

4. The Tribunal in the order impugned in this OP(KAT), found that it was on account of a typographical error that the community status of the applicant had been entered as 'Hindu-Arya' instead of 'Hindu-Araya' in the web portal of the PSC. Assuming that there was no change in the claim with regard to reservation status, the Tribunal found that the stand taken by the PSC that the correction effected by the applicant could be considered only for subsequent selection could not have any justification. The Tribunal went on to hold that the inclusion of the applicant's name in the OBC list was only on the basis that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Araya' community and not on the basis that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Arya' community. The original application was, therefore, allowed, and the deletion of the name of the applicant from the rank list published for the selection to the post of HSST (Junior) (English) was set aside. A direction was also issued to the PSC to include the name of the applicant in the supplementary list for reservation quota of OBC or in any special group of OBC to which the applicant was entitled, taking into consideration her merit in the written test and interview that was conducted.

5. We have heard Sri.P.C.Sasidharan, the learned counsel for the petitioner in this OP(KAT), as also Sri.P.Chandrasekhar, the learned counsel for the 1st respondent. We have also heard the learned Government Pleader for respondents 2 and 3.

6. On a consideration of the rival submissions, we find that while it may be a fact that Smt.Babitha V had in fact, corrected her particulars in the registration site in the web portal of the PSC, to indicate her community status as 'Hindu-Ar