Civil Judge Recruitment: Himachal Pradesh High Court Dismisses Plea Of Candidates Disqualified Over Defective Credential Certificates

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed a plea filed by candidates who were disqualified by the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) for their failure to furnish 'Credential Certificates' in prescribed format along with their applications for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division).

A division bench of Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel observed,

"Character, good behaviour and antecedents are very important qualifications for persons seeking public employment and in particular for the District Judiciary as Civil Judges (Junior Division)."

It added that if the petitioners were allowed any leniency, it would "open a Pandora's box" as candidature of about 1,700 candidates was rejected on similar grounds.

The petitioners, all law graduates who had enrolled with their respective Bar Councils, had applied for the positions of Civil Judges (Junior Division) as advertised by the HPPSC. However, their candidatures were rejected based on the ground that the uploaded Credential Certificates were deemed defective.

The HPPSC had explicitly stated in the advertisement that candidates must submit Credential Certificates furnished by two respectable individuals unconnected to them, testifying to their character, good behaviour, and antecedents. The certificates were required to be uploaded along with the application on the HPPSC's Online Recruitment System (OTRS) Portal.

Assailing their rejection the petitioners had argued that they had been unfairly disqualified and that the Commission had not given them a fair hearing. It was contended by the petitioners that the Credentials Certificates are only supplementary to the primary documents which can be taken into consideration to determine the eligibility of a candidate and the ‘Note’ contained in Rule 5 to the HP Judicial Service Rules could not have been applied and the candidature of the petitioners cannot be rejected at the preliminary stage of the examination.

Adjudicating upon the matter the bench noted that despite the Commission's cautionary Press Notes dated April 28, 2023, and May 10, 2023, reminding candidates to upload the Credential Certificates in the prescribed format, the petitioners neglected to do so. Instead, they either failed to submit the certificates or uploaded incorrect documents such as Aadhar card copies, the court pointed.

Observing that the petitioners had displayed "gross negligence" in following the instructions provided in the advertisement the court refused to grant them relief.

Deliberating on the petitioners' argument that the certificates could be produced at a later stage the court ruled that the submission of Credential Certificates should be treated as essential as possessing the required qualifications, and accordingly rejected the same while relying on previous judgments where the Supreme Court had held that failing to include necessary certificates or documents during the application process renders the candidates ineligible.

Furthermore, the court noted that the Credential Certificates were not comparable to certificates issued by government departments for categories such as SC, ST, OBC, economically backward, or physically handicapped candidates.

“There cannot be any practical difficulty for any candidate to get such certificates from two respectable persons not related to him at all. The petitioners therefore, cannot take the plea that it is not an important certificate to be produced before the cut of date”, the court reasoned.

In view of the same, the Court concluded that the petitioners' negligence in complying with the prescribed application requirements justified the rejection of their candidatures and accordingly dismissed their petitions.

Case Title: Manni and another Vs State of Himachal Pradesh &Ors

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (HP) 50

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