KERALA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Vs. BABITHA V.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Kerala Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'the PSC' for short) is the petitioner herein, aggrieved by the order dtd. 22/10/2021 of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No. 1344 of 2020.

(2.) The brief facts necessary for the disposal of this OP(KAT) are as follows:

(3.) In the short list that was published by the PSC on 25/2/2019, the applicant Smt. Babitha V was included in the supplementary list of OBC on the basis of her claim in the application that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Arya' community under the OBC category. However, at the time of inviting candidates for the interview, when she was asked to upload the necessary documents certifying her community status, she uploaded a document which indicated that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Araya' community and also produced a Non Creamy Layer Certificate issued by the Village Officer, Thiruvangad. It is not in dispute that in the meanwhile, the applicant had also corrected her profile in the website of the PSC to read that she belonged to the 'Hindu-Araya' community. The PSC, taking note of the disparity in the certificates subsequently uploaded by the applicant and the declaration that was originally contained in the web portal at the time of entertaining the application, did not include the applicant in the rank list that was published on 10/10/2019. This led the applicant to approach the Tribunal, which passed the order impugned in this OP(KAT).