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Nitu Kumari: Rules Job Applicant's Marriage During Selection No Bar
In a judgment that reinforces fairness in government recruitment, the has held that a woman who applies for a government post cannot be disqualified or denied appointment solely because she marries while the selection process is ongoing. The Court ruled that her , and .
The Dispute: Application, Marriage, and Rejection
The case arises from a notification issued on by the Range Forest Officer, Drang Forest Range, inviting applications for the post of Van Mitra. The last date for submission of applications was . Nitu Kumari applied on , claiming Scheduled Caste and Below Poverty Line (BPL) status. She cleared the physical efficiency test held in and was ranked first among candidates for Drang Beat.
In , while the recruitment process was still pending, she got married. When the finally called candidates for document verification in —nearly a year after the application deadline—the Department took the view that because she had married, she no longer belonged to a BPL family (her husband’s family was not BPL) and had ceased to be a resident of her original Gram Panchayat. Consequently, the Department denied her the marks she was entitled to under the BPL category and selected another candidate, issuing an appointment order on . Nitu Kumari’s representation against this decision was rejected on , prompting her to file a writ petition before the High Court.
The Department’s Argument: Verification at the Time of Interview
The State, represented by the Deputy Advocate General, and the private respondent argued that the Scheme for engagement of Van Mitra required documents to be verified with originals “.” They contended that the day of verification—not the date of application—was the relevant date for determining eligibility. Since by the time of verification the petitioner was married and her husband’s family was not BPL, she was rightly denied the BPL marks. They also pointed out that her change of residence due to marriage meant she no longer belonged to the Gram Panchayat for which the post was reserved.
The Court’s Rationale: Eligibility Frozen on Application Date
Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, presiding over a single bench, rejected the Department’s reasoning. The Court observed that the recruitment process had taken an inordinately long time—over a year from the application deadline to the actual verification. The delay was entirely attributable to the Department, not to the petitioner.
“The eligibility of the petitioner ought to have been adjudged by the Selection Committee as on the date she applied for the post. The veracity of the documents submitted by her, though was to be verified with original , but this by the candidate.”
The Court further noted that the Department could not expect a candidate to put her life on hold while it dragged its feet. “Simply because the department has consumed about a year's time … the department could not have expected the petitioner to remain unmarried, awaiting the outcome of the selection process.”
“No Law Compels an Unmarried Woman to Remain Unmarried”
In a particularly emphatic passage, the Court declared:
“This Court would like to observe that there is no law in this country which ordinarily says that if an unmarried lady applies for a post, then she is under legal obligation not to change her marital status till the recruitment process is over that too for posts like Van Mitra.”
The Court relied on its own earlier decision in Kiran Devi v. (CWP No. 7048 of 2022, decided on ), which had similarly held that when an unmarried woman applies for a job, her status must be assessed as on the date of application, and subsequent changes like marriage cannot operate to her disadvantage.
What the Court Ordered
Finding that Nitu Kumari was the most meritorious candidate for Drang Beat, the High Court quashed the rejection letter of and directed the to appoint her as Van Mitra with effect from —the date on which the other selected candidates were appointed. She is entitled to all consequential benefits, including actual monetary benefits and seniority.
At the same time, the Court protected the interests of the private respondent who had already been appointed, noting that no fault could be attributed to her. The Department has been directed either to retain her in the same Beat or adjust her in a nearby Beat.
The judgment sets a clear precedent: a government agency cannot benefit from its own delays to penalize a candidate for exercising her personal choice to marry. The , and later changes in status—unless they relate to a disqualification that was specifically and continuously required—cannot be used to deny a candidate her rightful appointment.
