Judicial Services – Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules, 2010 – Recruitment – Reservation – Submission of caste certificate – Rajasthan High Court-respondent no.1 invited applications for appointment to the post of Civil Judge Cadre being the “Civil Judge Examination 2021” – Last date for receipt of applications was 31.08.2021 – A Notice dated 04.08.2022 (Subsequent Notice) was issued, which mentioned that the concerned reserved category certificates ought not to have been issued beyond 31.08.2021 – The appellants in all the appeals belong to different reserved categories, i.e., Other Backward Classes (Non Creamy Layer) (OBC-NCL) etc. – None of these candidates had their certificates issued as per the date specified in the Subsequent Notice, their names were not included in the list of the candidates called for interview – The appellants contended that the High Court of Rajasthan has erred in not considering that the conditions introduced by the Subsequent Notice, which arbitrarily limited the appellants’ chances in the selection process, despite they having a OBC-NCL/MBC-NCL certificate since 2016, which was valid as per the advertisement – This condition, therefore, violated fundamental rights of the appellant(s) – Moreover, there was no such requirement in the 2010 Rules as has been introduced by the Subsequent Notice – Correctness:
Held: The Subsequent Notice, which was issued by the Rajasthan High Court on 04.08.2022, cannot be said to be arbitrary or without any basis – It specified that the certificate belonging to the concerned reserved category should have been issued prior or upto 31.08.2021 i.e. the last date of receipt of the application in pursuance to the Advertisement – This was because the Advertisement required a candidate to possess eligibility upto the cut-off date – As regards the specifications regarding a certificate issued between 31.08.2018 and 30.08.2020 along with the affidavit is concerned, this was based on the Government Circulars dated 09.09.2015 and 08.08.2019 which clarified that the certificate issued will be valid for one year extendable by three years with affidavit – Thus, the Subsequent Notice issued was in consonance with law and as per the Advertisement, applicable Rules, instructions and circulars issued by the competent authority – The plea of the appellants is unsustainable and deserves to be rejected – No relaxation can be granted in the given facts and circumstances of the case nor can it be claimed as a matter of right in the absence of any such discretionary clause in the Advertisement/Rules/Instructions. [Para 36]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Ankit Gyan. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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