GEETA DEVI Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has approached this Court praying for issuance of a writ of Mandamus directing the Haryana Staff Selection Commission respondent No. 2 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Commission') to interview the petitioner for the post of Female Supervisor treating her to be a dependent of Ex-Serviceman (General) and to consider her for appointment to the post on merits. Petitioner has asserted in the writ petition that 278 posts of Female Supervisor were advertised by the Commission. She fulfils the qualifications prescribed for the said post and intended to apply under the category of Dependents of Ex-Servicemen (General) but could not do so in the light of the policy dated 11.10.2001 framed by the State of Haryana for issuance of Dependent Certificate of Ex-Servicemen by the Zila Sainik Boards for employment, according to which, married daughter of an Ex-servicemen was not eligible for issuance of a dependent certificate and, therefore, had to apply under the General category. As a large number of applications were received for the post of Female Supervisors, Commission resorted to short-listing of the candidates in the respective categories for interview on the basis of the academic advertised qualification i.e. Graduate from recognized University. Minimum cut-off percentage for the General Category was fixed at 65%. Since the petitioner had obtained 51.5% marks in her graduation degree, she was not called for interview. However, as per the public notice dated 1.8.2012, all applicants under the Ex-Servicemen (General) category were treated eligible and called for interview. Petitioner made enquiry in this regard and came to know that a Division Bench of this Court vide judgment dated 19.10.2011 (Annexure P-7) passed in CWP No. 18110 of 2009 titled as Jai Narain Jakhar v. State of Haryana and others, had held that clause (f) of the policy dated 11.10.2001 framed by the Government of Haryana, which denied dependent certificate to a married daughter of an Ex-Servicemen is ultra vires of Article 14of the Constitution and held that clause (f) shall read as under:-

(2.) In the light of this clause (f), petitioner applied for issuance of a dependent of Ex-servicemen eligibility certificate, which was issued to her by the Secretary, Zila Sainik Board, Rewari on 12.9.2012 (Annexure P-8). Armed with this certificate, petitioner had submitted a representation to the Secretary of the Commission dated 18.9.2012 (Annexure P-9) requesting for consideration of her candidature in the Ex-Servicemen (G) Category for the post of Female Supervisor. Petitioner has now approached this Court by way of the present writ petition.

(3.) Counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner has been denied a right for competing in the selection in the Ex-Servicemen (G) Category in the light of the policy of the Government of Haryana dated 11.10.2001 which dis entitle a married daughter of an Ex-Serviceman from issuance of a Dependent Certificate, which has been declared to be ultra vires of Article 14 of the Constitution by a Division Bench of this Court and clause (f) of the said policy has been re-drafted, which relates back to the initial date of the issuance of the policy dated 11.10.2001. Therefore, the petitioner was entitled to the issuance of the dependent of Ex-Serviceman Certificate and also for applying under the said category. As it was not permissible at that time, the petitioner was forced to apply under the General Category under which, she could not make the grade. Now, the petitioner having been issued the eligibility certificate of dependent of Ex-Servicemen (G), is entitled to be considered for the post of Female Supervisor under this Category, to which the petitioner fulfils the essential qualification as there is no cut-off percentage fixed for this category. He, on this basis, contends that the present writ petition deserves to be allowed and a direction be issued to respondent No. 2 to consider the claim of the petitioner under the Ex-Servicemen (General) Category.