DHEERAJ BATHAM Vs. M. P. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India has been filed against the notice dated 11th November, 2005 (Annexure P1), by which the candidature of petitioners has been cancelled on the ground that they have not submitted the caste certificate issued by the competent authority i.e. SDO (Revenue) or any Superior Officer.

(2.) The necessary facts for the disposal of the present petition in short are that all the petitioners claim that they belong to Scheduled Tribe Category and the caste certificates were issued in favour of them prior to 1994 by the Naib Tahsildar. An advertisement was issued for filling up of the backlog posts under Special Drive Scheme for the State Service Examination and the last date for submission of application was 29th October, 2003 and there was no condition in the advertisement that only the caste certificate issued by SDO (Revenue) or the Officer superior to him, would be acceptable. The petitioners appeared for the MP State Services Preliminary Examination, 2003 and they passed the preliminary examination. They appeared in the Main Examination also and interview call letters were issued to the petitioners. In the interview call letters, it was clearly mentioned that the caste certificate issued by the competent authority would be acceptable. In the month of July, 2005, the final result was declared and the petitioners were declared as selected candidates. However, later on, the candidature of the petitioners has been cancelled on the ground that they have not submitted the caste certificate issued by SDO (Revenue) or Higher Officers. It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioners that the State Government by circular dated 20th February, 1991 (Annexure P10) had delegated the powers of issuing the caste certificates to Tahsildar and Naib Tahsildar. Another circular dated 1st August, 1996 (Annexure P-11) was issued with prospective effect by relying on the judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Director of Tribal Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh vs. Laveti Giri and Another in Appeal No.4545/1995, decided on 18th April, 1995 and in the case of Kumari Madhuri Patil and Another vs. Addl. Commissioner, Tribal Development and Others, 1995 AIR(SC) 94 and directed that the caste certificate shall be issued by SDO (Revenue)/Deputy Collector/Additional Collector/Collector. It is submitted that as there was no mention in the advertisement that only the caste certificate issued by SDO (Revenue) or any Senior Officer would be acceptable, therefore, the respondents cannot change the conditions of recruitment in the mid-way. To buttress his contention, the counsel for the petitioners has relied upon the judgments passed by the Supreme Court in the cases of Hemani Malhotra vs. High Court of Delhi, 2008 7 SCC 11 and Ramesh Kumar vs. High Court of Delhi and Another, 2010 3 SCC 104.

(3.) Per contra, it is submitted by the Counsel for the respondents that in the year 1996 a circular was issued that the caste certificate shall be issued by SDO (Revenue)/ Deputy Collector/Addl. Collector/Collector and the circular was issued in compliance of decision given by the Supreme Court. Since the recruitment took place in the year 2003, therefore, the circular dated 1st August, 1996 was in force and it cannot be said that the respondents have given retrospective effect to the circular dated 1st August, 1996. As the petitioner failed to submit the caste certificate issued by the competent authority and it is clear from the impugned notice that the petitioners were informed by the respondents that they should submit the caste certificate issued by the competent authority, but since they have failed to do so, therefore, their candidature was rejected.