Service Law – Basic eligibility/qualification – To be adjudged as on the last date of submission of application forms, subject to any extension of such date:
Held: Basic question on eligibility has to be determined on the basis of the cut-off date/point of time which stands crystalized by the date of the advertisement itself, being the last date of submission of application forms, unless extended by the authority concerned – In the present case, none of the appellants can be said to have been Ex-Servicemen at the time of the advertisement in question, as, undisputedly, they were still in service – Relevant rules and even the clarification(s) to the advertisement do not indicate that the appellants can be deemed Ex-Servicemen from a prospective date, despite being in actual service on the relevant date – As such, in the case at hand, there is no concept of serving personnel being deemed Ex-Servicemen – Also, the advertisement clearly specified a Course of Computer Concept as the essential qualification however, the appellants despite opportunity to appear to show such equivalence, failed to do so – Impugned judgment upheld. [Paras 14, 15, 17-19]
Service Law – Certification given to a person indicating a prospective date till when he would be in employment, such date indicated if can be taken as the date of being finally and actually relieved from service:
Held: No – Even if a certification is given to a person indicating a prospective date till when he would be in employment, circumstances could intercede between the date of such certificate and the prospective date of retirement/resignation/relieving indicated therein – Illustratively, if for any reason there is a proceeding/charge pending against the person(s) concerned and/or there are circumstances for which the person cannot be relieved from his post till conclusion of such proceedings or otherwise, such date indicated in the certificate cannot be taken as the date of being finally and actually relieved from service – However, in the present case, such date is also prospective and much later to the date on which the applications were invited and even till the last date of submission of the application forms – Thus, on this count alone, the appellants’ claim of a right to consideration under the Ex-Servicemen category fails. [Para 15]
LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES
Rakesh Kumar Sharma v State (NCT of Delhi) (2013) 11 SCC 58 – relied on.
Dr M V Nair v Union of India (1993) 2 SCC 429: Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission v Alpana (1994) 2 SCC 723 1994 [1] SCR 131; Bhupinderpal Singh v State of Punjab (2000) 5 SCC 262: State of Gujarat v Arvindkumar T Tiwari (2012) 9 SCC 545: 2012 [7] SCR 1072; Rekha Chaturvedi (Smt.) v University of Rajasthan 1993 Supp
(3) SCC 168: State of Bihar v Madhu Kant Ranjan 2021 SCC OnLine SC 1262 – referred to.
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As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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