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"A. Whether the candidature of an OBC candidate is liable to be rejected on the ground of the caste certificate having been submitted after the last date for submission of applications?
"B. Whether the decision in Arvind Kumar Yadav lays down and represents the correct position of law."

He submitted that while considering the first question, the Full Court in the matter of Gaurav Sharma (supra) has observed as follows:-

"Having noticed the statutory position, we then proceed to consider whether such a concession or exemption can be said to flow from Articles 14 or 16 of the Constitution as contended. Upon a thoughtful consideration, we find ourselves unable to accept the broad proposition as canvassed by the learned counsels. We are of the considered view that no such right of exemption can possibly be said to reside in or flow from Article 16 of the Constitution. Insofar as infraction of Article 14 is concerned, we presume that the same has been urged as a corollary to the contention that the prescription is superfluous. We are afraid that we find ourselves unable to sustain this submission either. As noted above the prescription of a cut off date in an advertisement serves more than one salutary purpose. By requiring all applicants to adhere to this date, the State is not practicing any discrimination nor can it be said to be acting unfairly. The absence of such a requirement would quagmire the entire selection process in a state of complete uncertainty. One of the primary purposes which such a stipulation serves is enabling the selecting body to identify the number of candidates constituting the field of eligibility. Judging whether a particular candidate is entitled to the benefits of reservation or has rightly claimed as falling in the said category is an essential exercise liable to be undertaken. For the purposes of undertaking this exercise the selecting body must be in a position to adjudge for itself whether a particular candidate is entitled to the benefits and exemptions as claimed. If this were not read as being an inherent power in the selecting body, the process of selection itself may be completely derailed."

Another sets of judgment were cited by the learned counsel for the respondents, which are judgments of Rajendra Patel (supra) and Arvind Kumar Yadav (supra), Gaurav Sharma (supra) and State of Tamil Nadu (supra). As per these judgments, Courts are of the view that its mandatory requirement to submit all certificates for claiming any benefit within the cut off date fixed by Commission/Selection Body. For completion of selection process within the particular time and for equal opportunity to the candidates of same category having their rankings just below to the petitioner/candidate, it is mandatory to produce all relevant documents mentioned within the cut off date fixed by Commission/Selection Body in the advertisement.

Again in the matter of Arvind Kumar Yadav (supra) came before this Court for adjudication and after considering the case of Ram Kumar Gijoriya (supra), Court has taken different view and upheld the judgment of learned Single Judge with the observations that since the petitioner had failed to satisfy the requirements of the advertisement and not submitted the certificate within time, he has rightly been treated as general category candidate.

Later on, Full Bench in the matter of Gaurav Sharma (supra) was also constituted and while interpreting the judgment of Ram Kumar Gijoriya (supra), Full Court has framed issues. First issue was as to whether the candidature of an OBC candidate is liable to be rejected on the ground of the caste certificate having been submitted after the last date of submission of applications and answer was in negative. While giving the answer, Court has considered so many judgments and given detailed findings that prescription of a cut off date in an advertisement serves more than one salutary purpose. Absence of any such requirement would be an unending process for completion of selection and further it would deprive to all other candidates, who are below in merit than petitioner/candidate, but otherwise eligible and also submitted their all requisite certificates of a particular category within the cut off date. They would only be benefited after removal of such candidates/petitioner, who had not submitted their requisite certificates within the cut off time prescribed. In fact, Commission/Selection Body must be in position to decide as to whether a particular candidate is entitled to the benefits or any other exemption as claimed by him only by fixing cut off date to enable itself to transfer the said benefits to candidates lower in marks in case of failure of submission of certificates by any other candidate having higher marks in that category. Therefore, in the present case too, "Commission" has not committed any error while transferring the candidature of petitioner into general category in lack of submission of relevant certificate within the cut off date.