No Relaxation In Requirements Stipulated In Recruitment Advertisement Unless Power Is Specifically Reserved: Gujarat High Court

A condition in the advertisement stipulated that in order to be eligible to apply, the candidate should have a certificate of having passed standard 10th with English as one of the subject. The candidature of the petitioners was overlooked on the ground of she not having a certificate of passing 10th standard with English as one of the subject.

The Petitioner had averred that she had passed her 10^th examination when her documents were verified in October 2018. Further, she had passed standard 12^th Board in English as of March 2011 and this being a higher qualification, the requirement for 10^th standard certificate for English be waived off. She relied on Jyoti K.K and Others vs. Kerala Public Service Commission & ors. [(2010) 15 SCC 596] to bolster her arguments.

Per contra, the Respondent Authority submitted that the 10^th standard certificate in English as one of the subjects was an essential requirement. The cut off date, per the advertisement for the purposes of such qualifications, for being considered was 8^th August 2017. The Respondent further averred that merely because the Petitioner subsequently could pass her 10^th examination, did not imply that she would be eligible for the relevant date of advertisement. To buttress this contention, reliance was made on Bedanga Talukdar vs. Saifudaullah Khan & ors [(2011) 12 SCC 85].

The Bench while appreciating the facts opined that the requisite was of having procured a certificate of 10^th standard with English as one of the subjects. Justice Vaishnav referred to the Bedanga judgement in this regard:

"In other words, there must be no arbitrariness resulting from any undue favour being shown to any candidate. Therefore, the selection process has to be conducted strictly in accordance with the stipulated selection procedure. Consequently, when a particular schedule is mentioned in an advertisement, the same has to be scrupulously maintained. There cannot be any relaxation in the terms and conditions of the advertisement unless such a power is specifically reserved."

Noting the Supreme Court's observation that when a particular schedule in mentioned in an advertisement, the same has to be scrupulously maintained, the Bench opined that there cannot be any relaxation in the conditions stipulated in the instant advertisement.

This was in accordance with the Bedanga judgement where the appellant had not possessed the requisite LMV driving license even though it was stipulated in the advertisement categorically. Therefore, no relaxation was made in that case.

Accordingly, the Bench affirmed the precedent and dismissed the Petition.

Case Title: PARULBEN NATWARLAL PATEL Versus STATE OF GUJARAT

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Guj) 53

Case No.: C/SCA/4096/2020

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