Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has held that failure to produce an OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) certificate may deny a candidate the benefit of reservation, but cannot bar consideration in the General category if the candidate qualifies on merit.
A Division Bench of Justice Arun Monga and Justice Ashutosh Kumar modified the earlier order rejecting Antima Jain’s candidature for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) and directed the competent authority to consider her candidature under the General (Female) category.
The petitioner had applied for the Junior Engineer (Civil) (Diploma) post pursuant to the 2014 recruitment advertisement, with her online application mistakenly mentioning OBC (Non-Creamy Layer). As she failed to produce the required OBC certificate during document verification, the petitioner informed the authorities that the category had been entered incorrectly and sought consideration under the General (Female) category. However, her candidature was rejected.
The High Court noted that the petitioner had secured 35.77 marks, above the 35.40 General (Female) cut-off, and therefore held that her candidature deserved consideration in the open category on the basis of her own merit.
The Division Bench held that although the petitioner could not claim the benefit of the OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) category for failing to produce the requisite certificate and avail the correction window provided in the recruitment process, this did not warrant her exclusion from the selection altogether.
The Court observed that once the petitioner was found ineligible for the reserved-category benefit, her candidature ought to have been considered under the General category, particularly as she had secured marks above the prescribed General (Female) cut-off.
The Bench particularly emphasised that failure to produce a reserved-category certificate may take away the benefit of reservation, but does not take away the candidate’s right to compete in the open category on merit.
The High Court upheld the rejection of the petitioner’s claim for OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) reservation, but modified the earlier judgment and directed the competent authority to consider her candidature under the General category. The authority has been directed to determine her eligibility for appointment on the basis of her marks and pass appropriate orders, preferably within three months of receiving the certified copy of the judgment.
The Bench also noted that one General-category post had been kept reserved pursuant to an interim order. It clarified that the petitioner would be entitled to consideration against the said post if she falls within the General (Female) merit.
If appointed, the petitioner would be entitled to consequential notional benefits, including seniority from the date similarly situated candidates were appointed.
However, the Court clarified that she would not receive salary arrears or other monetary benefits for the period she remained out of service, applying the principle of “no work, no pay.”