Madras High Court
M.Nisha vs The Secretary on 6 March, 2020
Author: M.S. Ramesh
Bench: M.S. Ramesh
W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
RESERVED ON: 01.04.2021
DELIVERED ON: 07.07.2021
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.S. RAMESH
W.P.(MD) Nos.5812, 14903, 3308, 3315, 3324, 3487, 3497,
3562, 4320, 4424, 4624, 4626, 5182, 5303, 5544, 5636 of
2020
and connected Miscellaneous Petitions
In W.P.No.5812 of 2020
M.Nisha ... Petitioner
Vs.
1.The Secretary,
Tamil Nadu Public Service
Commission
VOC Nagar, Park Town,
Chennai-600 003.
2.The Controller of Examination,
Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission,
V.O.C. Nagar, Park Town,
Chennai-600 003. ... Respondents
PRAYER in W.P.(MD) No.5812 of 2020: Petition filed under
Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue a Writ of
Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records relating to the
impugned list proceeding No.Nil, dated 06.03.2020 of the
1/10
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch
candidates whose Register Numbers mentioned have been
provisionally admitted to Original Certificate Verification and
Counseling to the post of Steno-Typist Gr-III included in Combined
Civil Services Examination -IV (Group-IV) for the years 2018-2019
and 2019-2020 insofar as to non inclusion of the Register number of
the petitioner (Reg. No.2907007144) based upon her eligibility,
issued by the first respondent, quash the same and direct the first
respondent to select the petitioner for appointment to the post of
Steno-Typist Gr-III included in Combined Civil Services Examination-
IV (Group-IV) based upon her eligibility.
For Petitioner : Mr. R.Santhanam
For Respondents : Mr.Isaac Mohanl, Sr. Counsel
for Mr.D.Sivaraman,
Standing counsel for TNPSC
C O M M ON O R D E R
The petitioners in all the above Writ Petitions had submitted On-line applications to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), pursuant to the recruitment notification No.19 of 2019 dated 14.06.2019 for the posts in Group-IV Services. All the petitioners had taken part in the written examinations. After publication of the results and based on the claims made in their respective On-line applications, they were called upon to upload the documents between 05.12.2019 and 18.12.2019 to substantiate their claims made in the On-line applications. 2/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch
2. During certificate verification, the TNPSC was of the view that all the petitioners herein had claimed reservation under “Persons Studied in Tamil Medium” (PSTM) category, but had not uploaded the PSTM Certificates. By placing reliance on the terms and conditions enumerated in the instructions to the candidates given under the recruitment notification dated 14.06.019, the candidature of all the petitioners herein were rejected for non uploading of PSTM Certificates. The petitioners herein are aggrieved against their non selection.
3. Heard the learned counsel for the parties.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioners had submitted that a mere reference to 'Tamil' as a medium of instructions in their On- line application, will not amount to claiming of reservation under PSTM category and therefore rejecting their candidature on the ground that they have not uploaded PSTM Certificates, cannot be sustained.
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5. Mr.Isaac Mohanlal, learned Senior counsel representing the Standing counsel for the TNPSC, submitted that Clause 12(J) of the notification requires the candidates to upload the documents, on which a claim is made and failure to upload such documents within the stipulated time will entail rejection of the applications.
6. One of the core issues involved in these Writ Petitions is as to whether these petitioners had claimed reservation under PSTM category or not?
7. It is not disputed that apart from the alleged failure to upload the PSTM Certificate, all the petitioners herein were otherwise eligible on merit, to be selected to the various posts in Group-IV Services. It is also not in dispute that the On-line application under the notification No.19 of 2019 dated 14.06.2019 did not provide for a specific column for the applicants, to give their option for claim of reservation under PSTM category. On the other hand, one of the column in the On-line application requires the applicants to mention their medium of instructions in their respective curriculum. This was a mandatory requirement for the 4/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch applicants to fill up the medium of instructions in the On-line application and failure to mention the medium, would result in rejection of the application.
8. It is the case of all the petitioners herein that they had not claimed any special reservation under PSTM category and even without applying the reservation under PSTM category, they have qualified themselves in the open category for selection to the posts. This aspect has not been disputed by the learned Senior counsel appearing for the TNPSC.
9. The respondents are unable to substantiate as to on what basis, they had come to the conclusion that all these petitioners had claimed reservation under PSTM category. Merely because the On- line application provides for a column, calling upon the applicants to mention their medium of instructions, it cannot be construed as if these applicants had claimed reservation under the PSTM category. It is reiterated that there is no column in the application, calling upon the candidates to exercise their option to claim reservation under PSTM category.
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10. In all recruitment processes held by the Government or other Governmental bodies and where the rule of reservation is made applicable, irrespective of whether it is horizontal or vertical reservation, the recruiting authority cannot subject the candidates to the rule of reservation, just because they qualify themselves for such reservations. The method of recruitment adopted by the recruitment authorities ratifies this proposition, since the first stage of evaluating the On-line applications is on the merits in the open category for all the applicants universally and irrespective of whether they had qualified themselves for any horizontal or vertical reservation, their candidature was short listed in the open category on merits. For instance, a candidate may belong to Most Backward Caste or Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community and when he/she qualifies themselves in the open category, their candidature cannot be considered under the communal reservation. It is needless to point out the right for employment is a fundamental right as guaranteed under the Constitution of India and depriving such an opportunity would also be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. This proposition has been reiterated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Ritesh R. Sah Vs. Dr.Y.L.Yamul & Others reported in 1996 (3) SCC 253. 6/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch
11. In the instant case, when the petitioners have qualified themselves in the open category itself, there was no justification on the part of the TNPSC to treat them as candidates claiming reservation under PSTM category and insisting for production of a PSTM Certificate. Hence, the proper course that ought to have been adopted by TNPSC is to straight away to include the names of the candidates who had qualified themselves in the open merit category and ought not to have resorted to demand supporting testimonials for any kind of reservation which the candidates may or may not claim. In these circumstances, the reason assigned the reason assigned by the TNPSC for rejection of the petitioners' candidature is unjust and illegal.
12. The learned Senior counsel had placed reliance on the following decisions of the Hon'ble Apex Court as well as this Court in the case of a) Dr.N.Vennilla Vs. Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission reported in 2006 (3) CTC 449; b) Bedanga Talukdar Vs. Saifudullah Khan & others reported in AIR 2012 SC 1803; and c) The State of Tamil Nadu & Others Vs. G.Hemalatha & another reported in 2019 SCC Online (SC) 7/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch 1113, to substantiate that recruitment notification will have statutory force and that failure on the part of the candidates to abide by the instructions given in the application would amount to summary rejection. There is no quarrel on this proposition. However, in the instant cases, the Writ Petitions deserve to be allowed on the factual infirmity that the On-line application does not call for options from the candidates to claim reservation under PSTM category but merely requires them to fill up their medium of instructions in their curriculum, which infirmity cannot be construed as a claim for reservation under PSTM category. Hence, the citations relied upon by the learned Senior counsel may not have relevance to the ground on which this Court intends to allow the Writ Petitions.
13. In the result, the above Writ Petitions stand allowed. Consequently, the action of the TNPSC in rejecting the petitioners' candidatures on the ground that they had not uploaded the PSTM Certificates relied upon by them in their On-line applications, is declared as illegal. As a result, there shall be a direction to the TNPSC to include the names of all the petitioners herein in the selection list for counseling to the posts included in Group-IV 8/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch Services, as per notification No.19 of 2019 dated 14.06.2019. The TNPSC shall endeavor to include the names of these petitioners, atleast, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
14. In fine, all the Writ Petitions stand allowed. Consequently, connected Miscellaneous Petition is closed. There shall be no orders as to costs.
07.07.2021 Index:Yes Speaking order DP To
1.The Secretary, Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission VOC Nagar, Park Town, Chennai-600 003.
2.The Controller of Examination, Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, V.O.C. Nagar, Park Town, Chennai-600 003.
9/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ W.P.No.5812 of 2020 & batch M.S.RAMESH,J.
DP Common Order made in W.P.(MD) Nos.5812, 14903, 3308, 3315, 3324, 3487, 3497, 3562, 4320, 4424, 4624, 4626, 5182, 5303, 5544, 5636 of 2020 and connected Miscellaneous Petitions 07.07.2021 10/10 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/