IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP-23250-2025 (O&M)

DECIDED ON: 28.08.2025 DEVENDER KUMAR .....PETITIONER(S)

VERSUS STATE OF HARYANA AND ANR .....RESPONDENT(S)

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP MOUDGIL Present: Mr. Shalender Mohan, Advocate for the petitioner(s).

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SANDEEP MOUDGIL, J (ORAL)

This Civil Writ Petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of an appropriate Writ, Order or direction, especially in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent no. 3 to consider the petitioner for Group-C post in advt. no. 04/2024 in BC-A category for Junior Engineer (Civil) as 200 posts are still lying vacant.

The brief facts necessary for adjudication of the present petition are that the petitioner is a resident of Haryana and possesses a B.Tech. in Civil Engineering from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. He appeared in the Common Eligibility Test (CET) held on 05.11.2022 and 06.11.2022 under BC-A category and secured 56.79 marks, which made him eligible under the reserved category.

Subsequently, pursuant to Advertisement No. 3/2023, the petitioner applied for various Group-C posts and was shortlisted for CET Stage-II. However, ₹

due to the income of his family being above the prescribed limit of 6 lakhs for BC-A (Non-Creamy Layer), he failed to produce a valid certificate at the relevant time. Accordingly, he applied under the General category in Advertisement No. 4/2024. Thereafter, on obtaining a Non-Creamy Layer certificate dated 20.07.2024 in light of the revised notification dated 16.07.2024, the petitioner submitted representations and email requests dated 01.08.2024 seeking correction of his category from General to BC-A.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner contends that despite making timely representations and fulfilling all eligibility conditions, no response was received from the respondents, and he was not shortlisted for CET Stage-II. The final result was declared on 17.10.2024, and according to the petitioner, 200 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) remain vacant. The petitioner also places reliance on the judgment dated 05.02.2025 in CWP No. 17852 of 2024 ‘Naveen and others vs. State of Haryana and others,’, decided on 05.02.2025, to contend that a similar relief was granted therein. However, in the subsequent order dated 12.03.2025 passed in the connected CM, the benefit of the judgment was expressly confined only to candidates who had appeared in the final written test.

It is further submitted that the grievance of the petitioner is that due to the respondents’ inaction in processing his request for category correction, and despite the availability of vacant posts, he has been unjustly excluded for further consideration.

Having heard learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the record, we are unable to find any merit in the present writ petition.

Admittedly, the petitioner, at the time of applying under Advertisement No. 4/2024, did so under the General category. It is not denied that he did not possess a valid BC-A Non-Creamy Layer certificate as on the date of application, which was 08.07.2024. The said certificate was only obtained on

20.07.2024after the last date for submission of applications.

The law is well-settled that eligibility must be assessed as on the cut-

off date. The Supreme Court in “Bedanga Talukdar v. Saifudaullah Khan, (2011) 12 SCC 85” has consistently held that subsequent acquisition of eligibility cannot relate back to the cut-off date.

28.We have considered the entire matter in detail. In our opinion, it is too well settled to need any further reiteration that all appointments to public office have to be made in conformity with Article 14 of the Constitution of India. In other words, there must be no arbitrariness resulting from any undue favour being shown to any candidate. Therefore, the selection process has to be conducted strictly in accordance with the stipulated selection procedure. Consequently, when a particular schedule is m