POOJA R. Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is before this Court assailing the order dated 08.02.2019 passed by the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the 'Tribunal' for short) in Application No.350/2019.

(2.) The petitioner made an on-line application in response to a notification dated 10.04.2017 issued by the second respondent-Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Selection Authority, for filling up 288 posts of Deputy Range Forest Officers/Surveyors. The educational qualification prescribed was B.Sc. (Forestry) and B.Sc. (Science) in the ratio of 50:50 and backlog of 41 DRFO/Surveyors totaling to 329 posts were called for. The second respondent published a provisional list on 29.05.2018, of eligible candidates for the post of Deputy Range Forest Officer/Surveyors in the ratio of 1:20 notifying that they were qualified for physical tolerance test and the name of the petitioner is found at Sl.No.92 in the said list. The petitioner, pursuant to the provisional list, appeared for physical tolerance test on 17.06.2018 and she was duly qualified in the physical tolerance test. Subsequent to the said test, another list dated 25.06.2018 was notified and the name of the petitioner is found at Sl.No.343 in the said list. Thereafter the petitioner was called for written test and she appeared in the written test which was conducted on 15.07.2018. It was also provisionally notified that the petitioner had passed in the written test.

(3.) Thereafter, the second respondent notified the list of candidates who were eligible for being considered for verification of the original documents and also for subjecting them to medical test. In the said list, it was once again published that the name of the petitioner is found at Sl.No.273. Subsequent to the medical test which was conducted on 30.10.2018, the petitioner was declared as medically fit and was called for verification of the original documents. However, the petitioner having noticed that as per the recruitment notification, it was required that the candidates should mention the aggregate of percentage of all the subjects calculated together, while the petitioner had excluded the languages and given the aggregate of only the other subjects. In this regard, the petitioner communicated by E-mail dated 30.05.2018 that she had committed a mistake by giving the aggregate of only the optional subjects and had excluded the languages. Therefore, she requested the selection authority to read the aggregate as 86.25% instead of 89.21%. Thereafter, the second respondent-selection authority communicated to the petitioner vide letter dated 07.06.2018 that on the basis of the information furnished by the petitioner, a list is published in the ratio of 1:20 and the candidature of the petitioner is subject to the terms and conditions thereof. Thereafter the original documents of the petitioner were verified by the second respondent on 30.10.2018 at the time of subjecting the petitioner for medical examination. On 03.01.2019, the second respondent published a final selection list and in the selection list, the petitioner's name is found at Sl.No.36. However, in the said list in the remarks column, it is stated that on verification of the original documents, it is found that the percentage of the marks furnished by the petitioner in the online application and the marks obtained by the petitioner as verified from the original documents did not tally. As such, the selection of the petitioner was dropped. Being aggrieved, the petitioner approached the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal. The Tribunal by order dated 08.02.2019 dismissed the application and therefore the petitioner is before this Court.