Summary
A candidate who applied in the open category because she lacked an NCL certificate valid on the application deadline later obtained a certificate after a corrigendum relaxed that requirement. Given her bona fide conduct, successful examination results and the treatment of similarly situated candidates, the Court used Article 142 to direct that she be treated as a reserved-female-category candidate.
Issues
- Whether the recruitment instructions against changing a submitted category could prevent the candidate from receiving the benefit of a later corrigendum relaxing the NCL certificate requirement.
- Whether the candidate should be considered under the reserved female category after clearing the examinations in the open category.
Provisions considered
- Article 142, Constitution of IndiaTo do complete justice on the particular facts, the Court directed the Commission to treat the appellant as a reserved-female-category candidate after finding that the rigid reading of the instructions would nullify the corrigendum. (¶¶ 14, 15, 17, 18, 19)
Held
- Instructions barring changes to a submitted application cannot be interpreted to nullify a later corrigendum that relaxes the supporting-certificate requirement for the recruitment category. (¶¶ 13, 14, 15, 18)
- On these facts, the candidate acted bona fide by applying in the open category without claiming NCL status she could not then document, later cleared the main examination and was similarly situated to candidates given the corrigendum’s benefit. Exercising Article 142, the Court directed that she be treated as a reserved-female-category candidate; the relief is tied to this record. (¶¶ 16, 17, 18, 19)
Result
The appeal was allowed. The High Court and Tribunal orders were set aside, and the Commission was directed to treat the appellant forthwith as a candidate under the reserved female category.