O R D E R

Heard Mr. P.H.Aravindh Pandian, Learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Vikram Veerasamy, Learned Counsel for the Petitioner and Mrs. R.Anitha, Learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the First Respondent and Mr. J.Ravindran, Learned Additional Advocate General assisted by Mr. R.Bharanidharan, Learned Standing Counsel for the Second and Third Respondents, and perused the materials placed on record, apart from the pleadings of the parties.

2. The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, which is the Respondent in these Writ Petitions, had by Advertisement No. 613 issued Notification No. 10 of 2022 dated 04.04.2022 inviting applications from eligible candidates only through online mode upto 03.05.2022 for direct recruitment to the vacancies in the post of Combined Engineering Services.

3. The Petitioner had applied online in furtherance to the said notification, but he was not included in the list of provisionally admitted candidates to on-screen certificate verification published on 22.02.2023 in the official website of the Respondent based on the results of the written examination conducted on 02.07.2022. It is borne out from the record in the entries in the relevant column made by the Petitioner in his online application that he had studied from Classes I to VIII in regular mode but had not produced any supporting documents for the same in respect of Classes I and II, which resulted in rejecting that application. In that backdrop, the Petitioner has invoked jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution for appropriate directions.

4. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Petitioner contends that the Petitioner has obtained the Certificate dated 26.05.2022 from the Head Master, M.M.Middle School, Viswanathapuram, Sengottai and counter-signed by the Block Educational Officer, Tenkasi based on item no.10 of the work of the Sub-Block Assistant Educational Officer I and II of their respective jurisdiction in respect of Panchayat and Municipal Schools in terms of G.O. Ms. No. 1228, Education, Science and Technology Department dated 30.12.1994 issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu which provides for permission for admission of private students upto Std. V, and as such, the online the application of the Petitioner could not be rejected by the Respondent.

5. It is explained by Learned Standing Counsel for the Respondent that the format of online application specifically provides the options of 'private study' and 'regular course' and when the Petitioner had not correctly made any claim for 'private study' and had instead entered as if he had undergone 'regular course' without any proof for Classes I and II in that regard, he could not be entitled to the benefit of reservation under the category of persons studying Tamil medium, as stipulated in G.O. Ms. No. 82, Human Resources Management (S) Department dated 16.08.2021. The rejection of the application of the Petitioner in this case is justified by referring to the following clauses in the recruitment notification:-

"Clause 5 of the 'WARNING' mentioned in page 1 of the notification.

In respect of recruitment to this post, the applicants shall mandatorily upload the certificates/documents (in support of all the claims made/details furnished in the online application) at the time of submission of online application itself. It shall be ensured by the applicants that the online application shall not be submitted without uploading the required certificates.

Specifically for candidates claiming PSTM:

Clause 12(B) [internal page page 18] second clause in example If the prescribed educational qualification is degree, then the candidate should have studied from the First Standard to SSLC, Higher Secondary Course and Degree through Tamil Medium of instruction. (Refer para 14 (R) of Instructions to Applicants).

Clause 12 (iv), (v) and (vi)

(iv) If no such document as evidence for 'PSTM' is available, a certificate from the Principal / Head Master / District Educationa