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As per the settled proposition of law, a candidate/applicant has to comply with all the conditions/eligibility criteria as per the advertisement before the cut-off date mentioned therein unless extended by the recruiting authority. Also, only those documents, which are submitted along with the application form, which is required to be submitted as per the advertisement have to be considered. Such an observation was made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court before Hon’ble Justice M.R. SHAH & Hon’ble Justice B.V. NAGARATHNA in the matter of The State of Bihar & Ors. vs Madhu Kant Ranjan & Anr. [CIVIL APPEAL NO. 7677 OF 2021].

The facts of the case were that applications were invited vide advertisement published on 08.02.2004 for selection of Constables in the Bihar Police Force. Pursuant to the said advertisement, the respondent applied for the said post. He also participated in the re-measurement and physical test held on 08.09.2006 as per another advertisement published in the daily newspaper for the same. As the respondent did not submit his NCC certificate either with the application form or with the second application, he scored 12 marks. As he did not submit his NCC certificate, he was not awarded five additional marks for NCC ‘B’ certificate. Aggrieved the respondent approached the High court by way of a writ petition making a grievance that he has been denied the benefit of five marks with regard to NCC ‘B’ certificate possessed by him, as provided for in the advertisement. The learned Single Judge refused to issue any positive direction with regard to the consideration of his candidature. However, the learned Single Judge observed that if the petitioner had not annexed such document with his original application and submitted the same subsequently after physical test but before the publication of the results, the matter shall remain in the discretion of the authority. After a period of three years, the original writ petitioner preferred the Letters Patent Appeal before the Division Bench. The Division Bench of the High Court directed the appointing authority to appoint the original writ petitioner as Constable awarding five additional marks of NCC ‘B’ certificate as per the select list forwarded on 08.09.2007. Aggrieved the State of Bihar and Others have preferred the present appeal.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that once, it is found that respondent No.1– original writ petitioner did not submit the photocopy of the NCC ‘B’ certificate along with the original application which was the requirement as per the advertisement and the cut-off date as per the advertisement was 22.02.2004 and he produced the same after the physical test on 15.01.2007, the appointing authority rightly held that he shall not be entitled to additional five marks of NCC ‘B’ certificate.

Additionally, the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that “As per the settled proposition of law, a candidate/applicant has to comply with all the conditions/eligibility criteria as per the advertisement before the cut-off date mentioned therein unless extended by the recruiting authority. Also, only those documents, which are submitted along with the application form, which is required to be submitted as per the advertisement have to be considered. Therefore, when respondent No.1 – original writ petitioner did not produce the photocopy of the NCC ‘B’ certificate along with the original application as per the advertisement and the same was submitted after a period of three years from the cut-off date and that too after the physical test, he was not entitled to the additional five marks of the NCC ‘B’ certificate.”

Finally, the Hon’ble Supreme Court allowed the instant appeal and set aside the impugned order of the Hon’ble High Court. However, there was no order as to cost.

Click Here To Read The Judgment.

Judgment Reviewed by: Rohan Kumar Thakur