LI Network
Published on: 01 September 2023 at 16:28 IST
The Delhi High Court has granted approval to a writ petition that contested an order issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal Principal Bench in New Delhi regarding a selection process conducted by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) for the position of Supervisor Grade-II (reserved for female candidates under the Scheduled Caste category).
The court directed the DSSSB to amend its selection process, particularly concerning the submission of documents by candidates, in order to prevent the cancellation of candidature or appointment based solely on the grounds of documents not being uploaded.
A Division Bench composed of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta stated, “The respondent has not provided any legitimate reason for failing to upload the documents. While the respondent did make a further representation on May 16, 2017, the fact that she initially refrained from uploading the documents on May 15, 2017, indicates that there were reasons known to her. Given the absence of uploaded documents before the cutoff date, consequences must ensue.”
The respondent, who was shortlisted for the position, encountered technical difficulties while attempting to upload her e-Dossier for document verification. She subsequently submitted her documents through speed post. Nonetheless, the DSSSB issued a corrigendum that removed her name from the list of provisionally nominated candidates due to the non-uploading of documents.
The Tribunal permitted the original application and invalidated the corrigendum. The Tribunal directed the DSSSB to review the respondent’s hard copy documents and recommend her for appropriate appointment if she met the eligibility criteria.
The petitioner challenged the Tribunal’s decision, contending that the Tribunal’s instruction to accept and verify the respondent’s documents in hard copy format and suggest her for appointment was unjustified.
Upon examination of the situation, the Court compared the facts of the case with those of similar cases.
The Court noted that the respondent’s representation indicated technical difficulties preventing document uploads, but she did not provide a valid justification for the non-upload. Consequently, the Court determined that disqualification due to the documents not being uploaded before the cutoff date was appropriate.
The Court stressed the significance of adhering to deadlines and observed that granting exemptions to one candidate could be prejudicial to others who faced comparable issues.
The Court cited previous cases where petitions with similar circumstances were dismissed on these principles. Ultimately, the Court granted the petition, annulling the Tribunal’s order.
The Court further instructed the DSSSB to revise its selection process to allow candidates to upload their documents while submitting their applications, thus preventing similar issues in the future.
“It shall ask candidates to upload documents proving their eligibility and caste during the application submission process itself. This way, even if a candidate is unable to upload documents after results are announced, the DSSSB can rely on and consider the documents uploaded by the candidate during application submission for further action in the selection process,” the Bench concluded.
