Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 11: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) bench Srinagar has ruled out to consider the category certificate by the authorities obtained by the candidate after the cut-off date for any advertised post.
The Division Bench of Ritu Tagor (J) and Prasant Kumar (A) in a significant decision said to consider the backward category certificate for appointment on the post obtained by the candidate after the cut-off date would amount to rewriting the terms of the advertisement.
“Permitting the applicant to rely upon a certificate obtained after the cut-off date would amount to rewriting the terms of the advertisement and granting an undue advantage to one candidate at the cost of others who complied with the prescribed conditions within time”, The CAT said.
The CAT held this in a case whereby an aggrieved candidate challenged the selection and appointment to the post of Theatre Assistant under Reserved Backward Area (RBA) category on the ground that he had secured higher merit and being otherwise meritorious and eligible, he was denied consideration under the RBA category solely on the ground that his RBA certificate had been issued after the prescribed cut-off date.
The bench dismissed the plea in its considered opinion that the aggrieved candidate was not eligible for consideration under the RBA category as on the cut-off date. Therefore, the action of the respondent-authorities in rejecting his candidature does not suffer from any illegality.
The bench said that as on the cut-off date, the aggrieved candidate did not possess a valid RBA certificate to substantiate his claim under the reserved category. Furthermore, he did not even challenge the order rejecting his candidature; rather, he filed the present application after a delay of six months.
“Consequently, the judicial precedents relied upon by the applicant are distinguishable on the facts and do not advance the applicant’s claim. Consequently, no interference is warranted with the selection / appointment of selected candidate”, read the judgment.
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