Merely Because PSC Issued Hall Ticket Unaware Of Defective Application, Candidate Has No Right To Appear For Exam : Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court dismissed the plea by a candidate who sought to be appointed to the post of Assistant Public Prosecutor, and had also been issued a Hall-Ticket by the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) aspirant but was denied the opportunity to take the examination at the examination hall on the ground of her original application being defective. 

Justice Devan Ramachandran observed that since the petitioner herself had conceded that her application did not contain her name or the date on which it was taken, it was thus legally defective. 

"The said application, therefore, is legally defective and could never have been acted upon by the PSC; and hence merely because the petitioner was issued a Hall Ticket based on the same by the PSC, being unaware of the said defect, it would not obtain to her any right to write the examination," the Court observed. 

It was the petitioner's case that although she had not provided the requisite inputs in her photograph, in such an event, the PSC ought not to have issued her a Hall Ticket, thus subjecting her to ridicule in the examination hall, by being denied an opportunity to write the examination. She argued that once the PSC had the Hall Ticket, it ought to be assumed that they had waived all objections against her application and that she was thus entitled to take the examination. 

The petitioner thus prayed the PSC to cancel the examinations for the post of Assistant Public Prosecutor; or in the alternative, to direct them to grant her an opportunity to write the same, through a special chance.

The Standing Counsel for Kerala PSC Advocate P.C. Sasidharan countered the petitioner's arguments and submitted that since the petitioner's application did not adhere to the general instructions issued by the PSC, which have the same status as statutory prescriptions, the same could only be rejected and the petitioner could not be allowed to take advantage of the same. The counsel argued that when the petitioner herself admitted unequivocally that her photograph uploaded did not contain her name or the date on which it was taken, it was only axiomatic that the same ought to be rejected, and she could not claim any right based on the Hall Ticket issued inadvertently.

The Court found merit in the above submissions of the Advocate Sasidharan, and noted that since the candidate herself had conceded to not having followed the general instructions, the same would fall foul of the declarations of the Court in Kerala Public Service Commission v. Reshmi K.R. & Ors. (2019). It thus held the application to be legally defective and one that could never have been acted upon by the PSC. 

However, the Court went on to add that the grievance of the petitioner was also justified, 

"...because once she had been issued with a Hall Ticket, she was perhaps certainly put to ridicule when she went to the examination hall and then denied opportunity to take part in it. This certainly ought to have been avoided by the PSC; and I am certain that this will be kept in their mind in future exercises". 

The Court thus dismissed the plea, and proceeded to clarify that the observations of the Court could not be interpreted by anyone to mean that it has evaluated the merits of the qualifications of the petitioner, or her competence; and that the petitioner would be full liberty to take part in any future appointment exercise, without being fettered by the present decision. 

Advocates P.V. Vibin, A.M. Faseena, M. Jayakrishnan, and Pooja P.S. appeared on behalf of the petitioner. 

Case Title: Adv. Hasna Mol N.S. v. Secretary, Kerala Public Service Commission & Ors. 

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 400

Case Number: WP(C) NO. 20220 OF 2023

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