IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR BEFORE HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE SHEEL NAGU &

HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE MANINDER SINGH BHATTI ON THE 2^nd OF MARCH, 2022 WRIT PETITION No. 3404 of 2022 Between:-

SATISH URAO S/O SHRI RAM SINIGH URAO , AGED ABOUT 31 YEARS, OCCUPATION: UNEMPLOYED R/O KAMBOJ COLONOY, TIGHRA, KHAMARIA, JABALPUR (M.P.) (MADHYA PRADESH)

.....PETITIONER (BY SHRI AMIT SETH, ADVOCATE)

AND HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR

1. GENERAL HIGH COURT PRINCIPAL SEAT AT JABALPUR, M.P. (MADHYA PRADESH)

PRINCIPAL DISTRICT AND SESSIONS JUDGE, HARDA DISTRICT-HARDA

2.

(MADHYA PRADESH)

.....RESPONDENTS (BY SHRI KHALID NOOR FAKHRUDDIN, ADVOCATE)

This appeal coming on for admission and interim relief this day, Hon’ble Shri Justice Maninder Singh Bhatti passed the following:

ORDER

The petitioner has filed this petition while praying for the following reliefs:-

I. Hon’ble Court may be pleased to call for the relevant records from the possession of the respondents for its kind perusal;

II. Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issued appropriate writ/order/direction quashing the impugned order dated 4.02.2022 (Annexure P/1) passed by the respondent no.2 as ex facie arbitrary and illegal;

III. Hon’ble Court further be pleased to issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondent to forthwith accept the caste certificate dated 14.01.2022 submitted by the petitioner and accordingly issue him appointment order for the post of Peon/Waterman/Chowkidar alongwith all consequential benefits including arrears of pay, seniority, etc;

IV. Any other suitable relief deemed fit in the facts and circumstances of the case may also kindly be granted together with the cost of this petition.

2. The petitioner submits that he belongs to scheduled tribe category and, he is 'Orao" by tribe. He further submits that his fore-fathers hail from Chhattisgarh area and thus, he was issued a scheduled tribe certificate from the State of Chhattisgarh and the tribe 'Orao' has been recognized as scheduled tribes category in the State of M.P. as well as State of Chhattisgarh. The petitioner also submits that he is a domicile and permanent resident of Jabalpur. On the strength of aforesaid testimonial to his credit, the petitioner applied for the posts of Peon/Waterman/Chowkidar which were advertised by the respondents vide advertisement dated 26/10/2022. According to the petitioner that as per advertisement the last date of submission of application form was 24/11/2021 and the interview process was to take place on 26/12/2021. He applied for the post and submitted his online application. It is also submitted by the petitioner that he was issued an admit card to participate in the process of interview which were scheduled on 26/12/2021 and, he further submits that while taking note of his performance in the interview, he was selected and was thus called upon for verification of his document on 17/01/2022 however, after submission of the document on 17/01/2022 he was awaiting the issuance of his appointment order but to his surprise, he was served with the impugned order dated 4/02/2022 by which, the petitioner was intimated that his selection for the post of Peon under reserved scheduled tribe category is cancelled on account of non-fulfillment of the documents. The petitioner also submits that later on, the petitioner also submitted the caste certificate issued by the State of Madhya Pradesh dated 14/01/2022 but the same was not taken into consideration on the ground that the same was issued after the cut off date i.e. 24/11/2021 prescribed in the recruitment advertisement dated 26/10/2021.

3. The respondent nos. 1 and 2 have filed the return to the writ petition in which they submit that Clause 4 of the advertisement specifically provided that the candidate who do not belong to State of Madhya Pradesh, they will mention their category to be unreserved in the application form and they will only apply for the vacancies in the unreserved category and the benefit o