If the petitioner has failed to possess prescribed eligibility condition for the stenographer examination she cannot claim that she has no right to participate in the examination.
Anuradha Vikramsinh Rajput vs Gujarat Subordinate Services … on 19 May, 2023
Bench: Honourable Justice J. C. Doshi
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 11819 of 2022
Facts
The petitioner in this case asked the Court to issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondent to permit her to apply for the post of Gujarati Stenographer in pursuant to the Advertisement and direct the Respondents to accept the application thereby allowing her to participate in the examination pursuant to the Advertisement and be considered for appointment to the post of Gujarati Stenographer if she passes the examination. The petitioner was not given permission. By the respondent as she had gone over the age criteria. She was successful in getting her application lodged but the Court did not grant her permission to appear in the examination. Hence, through this application the petitioner has asked the Court to permit her to appear for the examination.
The petitioner’s advocate contended that the minimum age criteria to appear for the exam was 20 years whereas, the maximum age was 40 years. He further submitted that female candidates had been given a relaxation till the maximum age of 45 years but due to covid it was extended by another year to 46 years and hence the petitioner has the right to appear for the examination.
The respondent’s advocate objected to the grant of this petition on the argument that the recruitment of the Gujarati Stenographer is conducted as per the Gujarat Civil Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1967 (“Rules” for short) and Rule 8(2)(b), permits that if prescribed age limit exceeds 40 years the age limit may be relaxed to the extent of maximum of 5 years so as to provide upper age limit for entry in services, but it should not exceed 45 years. She submitted that even though the maximum age was extended by another year to 46 years, the petitioner was well above 46 years when she applied to write the exam.
Judgement
The Court went through the rule and noticed that the maximum relaxation which is prescribed is of 5 years which is already given in the advertisement for recruitment and that there was no further relaxation clause.
The Court held that the right to participate in the selection process is subject to the prescribed eligibility condition. The right is guaranteed only if the candidate fulfills the requisite eligibility criteria stated in the above Rules on the stipulated date. It also held that the proposition of the eligibility of any candidate was to be reckoned from the date of the advertisement for the post or as per the permission of the Rules and not by any other condition. Lacking of eligibility cannot permit the petitioner to expect that she may be permitted to enter into the selection process and further may be permitted to sit in the examination or apply for the examination.
Hence, for these reasons the petition was dismissed.
JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY AMIT ARAVIND
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