UNION OF INDIA Vs. MAHENDRA SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in the present appeal is to an order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Allahabad whereby appeal filed by the appellants was dismissed. Such appeal was directed against an order passed by the learned Single Bench of the High Court, wherein, an order dtd. 27/1/2017 passed by the appellants was quashed and thus, consequently, the candidature of the respondent (For short, the 'writ petitioner') was to be considered and accepted by the appellants.

(2.) The Employment Notice No. 1/2011 was published to fill up 11952 posts of Constables in the Railway Protection Force (For short, the 'RPF'). The process of selection comprised of written examination consisting of 120 multiple choice objection type questions of one mark each and of 90 minutes duration. The candidates had to obtain at least 35% marks (30% in the case of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates) in the written examination for being considered for other Test such as Physical Efficiency Test (For short, the 'PET'). Para 8 Clause B of the Advertisement gives the requirement of an application form and also that the said application should be filled up by the candidates in their own handwriting, in Hindi or English only. The applications were required to be accompanied by a self-attested matriculation certificate as proof of educational qualification and age. The relevant conditions read as under:

(3.) The writ petitioner belongs to Other Backward Class category and has filled up his application form along with Indian Postal Order dtd. 5/3/2011 in English. His signatures are in English consisting of two letters "M" and "S". Such application form is accompanied with a self-attested marksheet of high school examination and other certificates. All such documents are self-attested and signed in Hindi.