Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, Ms. Laavanya Kaushak, Ms. Aliza Alam, Mr. Mohnish Sehrawat, Mr. Amitoj Chadha v. Durgesh Kumar

1125035000482) for the post of TGT (Natural Science) _ Male (Post Code 35/21), following deficiency/ deficiencies have been noticed and accordingly your candidature has been kept pending for want of deficient/requisite documents:-

1. EWS Certificate should be issued between 01/04/2021[1] to 04/07/2021 instead of 02.02.2021 for the Financial year 2021-22. above to Direct Recruitment Cell (E-III), Next Building from MP hall, Lancer Road, Behind Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, Delhi- 110054 latest by 11/07/2023, failing which your candidature may be cancelled as per prescribed RRs/Guidelines.”

7. The learned Tribunal, however, has set aside the rejection order by placing reliance on the judgment of this Court in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) v. Kiran Grover, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 5044. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioners have filed the present petition.

8. The learned counsel for the petitioner reiterates that as the EWS certificate had been issued on 02.02.2021, it cannot relate to the financial year 2021-22 and, therefore, was not a valid certificate.

9. On the other hand, the learned counsel for the respondent, who appears on advance notice of this petition, submits that the same issue has been considered by this Court in its judgment of Kiran Grover (supra), and the submission similar to the one raised by the petitioners herein, has been rejected.

10. He further submits that the State of Haryana has issued a clarification dated 22.05.2024, certifying that even though the EWS certificate(s) have been issued prior to the completion of the financial year, it relates to the full financial year. The clarification given by the State of Haryana so far as it is relevant, is reproduced hereinunder:-

Haryana, The Government of Haryana after meticulous consideration of the issues clarifies that the candidature of the candidates cannot be cancelled merely on any one or more of the grounds stated above because of the following reason:-

(i) The EWS certificates in Haryana are issued keeping in view the average fixed income and assets for the complete financial year, immediately upon an application being made to the competent authority, no matter what the date of application whether or not before completion of the financial year

(ii) Regarding acceptance of EWS

Certificate issued by the Naib Tehsildar instead of Tehsildar submitted by the applicants/candidates of Haryana it is clarified that- (a) Haryana Government in the Schedule to Right to Service Act, 2014 has authorized both Tehsildar and Naib- Tehsildar to issue EWS Certificates to the persons residing in Haryana. (b) In another case of similar nature, it has already been clarified by Haryana Government vide letter No. 22/227/2023- JHR-III, dated 7th December 2023 (Copy enclosed) addressed to UPSC/DoPT that State Government has decided to treat the EWS certificates issued by the NaibTehsildar as true and genuine. In fact, such EWS certificates issued by the Naib Tehsildar have also been accepted by UPSC/DOPT. Therefore, the EWS certificates issued before the completion of the financial year 2020-21, i.e. during the period between 1st January and Stat March 2021, submitted by the candidates who are covered under 1 (i) above should be treated valid for the year 2021-22. (c)In CWP 8502 of 2017 (O&M) it has been held by the Hon ‘ble Punjab and Haryana High Court that “... The power and duties of Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar are of similar nature. The Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars have powers of Executive Magistrate to maintain law and order. Their powers and functions include Maintenance and Updating Revenue Record, Registration of documents and recovery of Government dues. Therefore, experience/service rendered as Naib Tehsildar and Tehsildars is similar.” Therefore, EWS certificates issued by Naib Tehsildar for candidates of Haryana referred to at 1(ii) above should be treated as valid. (iii)Regarding applicants/candidates who are covered under 1(iii) above, it is informed that Haryana Government launched income certificates generation via the portal https://saralharyana.gov.in during the year 2021-22 to issue online certificates of all kinds including Caste Certificates/Income Certificates/EWS Certificates etc. which were previously being issued by different relevant Departments of Haryana Government. It is also clarified here that in the previous system it would have been possible for a candidate to obtain two different EWS Certificates verifying the income at two different levels by approaching the relevant Department with two different sets of affidavits at two different dates. With the launch of the said portal this possibility has been completely pre-empted. There is a unique Family ID for every family and the verified annual income of every family for every year is available in the State level database. The moment a candidate applies for EWS Certificate on the SARAL portal, it fetches the income and caste data from the said database. There is no scope for the competent authority (Tehsildar or NailbTehsildar etc.) to make any change to the verified income of the previous year. Therefore, in this system, the candidate may generate his certificate in any of the months. Many candidates who submitted the EWS certificate issued after the last date of submission of application might not have been aware of the newly launched portal by Haryana Government and consequently, they may not have been able to generate their own EWS Certificate in time. It is, therefore, requested that the EWS Certificate generated after the last date for the candidates referred to at 1 (iii) above may also be accepted because they truly capture the actual verified income for the previous year. It is further added that no cut-off date need be fixed for the purpose of Caste Certificate of candidates of reserved category because caste stays the same at all times. Similarly, the verified family income of the candidates residing in Haryana is available in the database on an annual basis at all times and remains unchanged for a particular period in the financial year. Therefore, the mere fact of submission of EWS Certificate which was issued after the cut off date cannot legally be treated as valid ground for cancellation of candidature.

3. In view of the above, you are requested to consider the EWS Income and Asset Certificates issued by the Competent Authority during the period between 1st January and 31st March 2021, before or after the last date as valid and allow the respective candidates to continue/join back their duties. It is also requested that a similar decision may also be taken for all other selected candidates of Haryana having similar EWS Certificates, where cases for cancellation of candidature/withdrawal of appointment letter are in pipeline in Directorate of Education or any other department of Delhi Government on any of the grounds mentioned in para 1 above. If required, Government of Haryana can depute the Director General, Human Resources, Haryana to meet with the Director of Education or any other authority to work out the details of all the candidates of Haryana whose appointment may be in process of cancellation and provide any further detailed justification for each case wherever felt necessary by him.” (emphasis supplied)

11. We have considered the submissions made by the learned counsels for the parties.

12. In the present case, we note that the advertisement merely stated that the candidate has to produce the relevant certificate issued by the competent/notified authority, in the prescribed format, on or before the cut-off date (closing date of the advertisement). It was not mentioned that the certificate must be issued between two given dates. The respondent, in the present case, has produced before the petitioners a certificate dated 02.02.2021 issued by Tehsildar, Faridabad. There is no dispute that the said authority is duly recognized by the petitioners as the competent authority to issue a certificate. The certificate is stated to be valid for the year 2021-22 and certifies that the income of the family of the respondent for the financial year 2020-21 meets the given criteria for the EWS category.

13. As the petitioners were rejecting the candidature of persons who had given similar certificates, which were issued prior to 01.04.221, the State of Haryana issued a clarification dated 22.05.2024, which we have reproduced hereinabove and which clarifies that a certificate, though issued prior to the completion of the financial year, should be treated as being valid as it is issued keeping in view the average fixed income and assets for the complete financial year. Taking note of the said clarification, this Court in Kiran Grover (supra) rejected a similar plea similar to the one raised by the petitioners herein, and observed as under:-

certificate dated 15.01.2021 and the further clarification issued by the same authority dated 02.05.2022; which explicitly states that the said certificate is valid from 01.04.2021 to 31.03.2022 (Year 2021-2022), i.e. the relevant financial year according to the certificate. Both the certificates are to be read in conjunction with each other. It would have been incumbent on the petitioner-authority before cancelling the candidature of the respondent to properly ascertain whether the said certificate is valid.”

14. In the peculiar facts of the present case, where the advertisement itself does not state that the certificate must be issued post 01.04.2021 and the State of Haryana has clarified that though the certificate is issued prior to 01.04.2021 but relates to the entire financial year of 2021-22, we find no infirmity in the Impugned Order passed by the learned Tribunal and its ultimate direction.

15. Accordingly, we find no merit in the present petition. The same is dismissed. The pending application also stands disposed of.

NAVIN CHAWLA, J RENU BHATNAGAR, J APRIL 25, 2025 Ab/mn/DG Click here to check corrigendum, if any