IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

213 Date of decision: February 06, 2026 PANKAJ KUMAR ...Petitioner Versus STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TRIBHUVAN DAHIYA Present: Mr. Ravinder Bangar, Advocate (through video conferencing)

and Ms. Anjali Bangar, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Rohit Arya, Additional Advocate General, Haryana.

TRIBHUVAN DAHIYA, J. (ORAL)

The petition has been filed seeking a writ of certiorari setting aside the order dated 12.03.2024, Annexure P-18, whereby the petitioner’s candidature for the post of Art and Crafts Teacher against advertisement 6/2006, dated 20.07.2006, has been rejected on account of ineligibility, as the certificate of Diploma in Arts and Craft from the Kurukshetra University was statedly issued to him after the closing date for submission of application forms, i.e., 21.08.2006.

2. The facts of the case in brief are, the Commission advertised 816 posts of Art and Crafts Teachers vide the advertisement aforementioned.

Essential qualifications for the post were mentioned as under:

I. Matric from Haryana School Education Board or an equivalent qualification recognized by the Haryana School Education Board.

II. Two years Diploma in Art & Crafts examination conducted by the Haryana Industrial Training Department, or an equivalent qualification recognized by the Haryana Education Department.

III. Knowledge of Hindi upto Matric standard.

The petitioner applied for the post as a BCA category candidate by filling up the application form, dated 19.08.2006, on the basis of his educational qualifications of Matric with knowledge of Hindi, 12^th standard, and Diploma in Arts and Craft from the Kurukshetra University, which he had passed on 14.08.2006, Annexure P-3. Certificates to that effect were duly uploaded with the application form, Annexure P-2.

2.1 The Commission concluded the selection process and the selected candidates were recommended in their respective categories in 2010. The selection was, however, quashed by this Court vide judgment, dated 20.02.2015, rendered in CWP-18482-2010 titled Suman Kumari v. State of Haryana and others, which was upheld by the Division Bench vide judgment, dated 10.11.2020, passed in LPA-359-2015 titled Vinod Kumar and others v. State of Haryana and others. SLP filed against it was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 14.12.2020. Thereafter, the selection process was carried out afresh and written examination was held on 31.01.2021. The petitioner cleared the same as per the result declared on 23.02.2021. He was shortlisted and called for documents verification between 01 to 03.03.2021, and for interview thereafter, conducted from 14 to 18.03.2021. As per marks secured by the petitioner in the selection which find mention in the impugned order dated 12.03.2024, he got 116 marks in written test and 20 in interview, making it a total of 136. The last selected candidate under BCA category, however, secured 127 marks. The final selection result was announced on 14.11.2021, but the petitioner could not be selected. He was considered ineligible during the interview process since his certificate of Diploma in Arts and Craft had been issued after the closing date for submission of application forms.

2.2 He approached this Court by filing the instant petition stating that he had cleared the Diploma before the closing date, and had also appended his certificate to that effect, dated 14.08.2006, with the application form. And that he had improved his marks of Psychology from 55 to 74, and a new Diploma certificate with the same roll number and registration number was issued by the University on 02.11.2006, Annexure P-4. This too was submitted by him to the Commission at the time of documents verification. The fact was further clarified by the University in a letter dated 16.03.2021, Annexure P-9, issued by the Registrar declaring that the petitioner cleared the final year examination of Diploma in Arts and Craft on 14.08.2006, and w