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1393IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P. (S) No.1692 of 2019
With
I.A. No.1208 of 2024
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Ramanika Kisku .......... Petitioner. -Versus-
1. State of Jharkhand
2. The Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi.
3. Director, Secondary Education, Department of School Education & Literacy, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi.
4. Secretary, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, Ranchi.
5. Controller of Examination, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, Ranchi.
.......... Respondents.
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CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR
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For the Petitioner : Mr. Arbind Kumar, Advocate For the State : Mr. Aman Kumar, A.C. to G.P.I For JSSC : Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, Advocate -----
Order No.06 Date: 06.02.2024
1. The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondent authorities to issue appointment letter to the petitioner for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT), as she was declared successful pursuant to the examination held vide Advertisement no.21 of 2016.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondent-JSSC published an advertisement being Advertisement no.21 of 2016 for appointment of TGT. The petitioner submitted online application form on 24thMarch, 2017 for the said post in the subject 'Hindi' under Scheduled Tribes category along with other relevant documents including educational qualification. Pursuant thereto, provisional admit card was issued to her to appear in the said examination. She having qualified in the written test was issued notice by the
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respondent-JSSC for verification of the certificates. Thereafter, the petitioner appeared for the said verification before the respondent-JSSC on 28thSeptember, 2018 with all relevant documents as mentioned in the advertisement, however, on the said date itself i.e. 28thSeptember, 2018 the respondent- JSSC issued notice to the petitioner vide letter no.4642 informing her to submit caste certificate issued in the name of her father.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that the petitioner had passed matriculation examination from Government Girls School, Dumka in the year 1994. Thereafter, she passed intermediate examination from S.P. Mahila College, Dumka in the year 1996 and marks-sheet was issued by the Bihar Intermediate Education Council, Patna. The petitioner also passed graduation examination from Siddhu-Kanhu University, Dumka in the year 2000 and subsequently passed B.Ed. examination in the year 2007 from the said University. It is also contended that the petitioner had submitted residential certificate showing her place of residence as village- Godaidhab, Gram Panchayat- Bhatbhanga Santhali, Block- Taljhari, Post Office- Taljhari, P.S.- Taljhari, District- Sahebganj. Pursuant to the aforesaid notice dated 28th September, 2018, the petitioner submitted another caste certificate issued in the name of her father by the Sub Divisional Officer, Banka (Bihar), showing that she/her father belong to Santhal community coming under S.T. Category. Despite the said fact, the petitioner's candidature under S.T.
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category was not considered, rather her candidature was considered under unreserved category, as would be evident from important notice no.2522 dated 14thFebruary, 2019 (Annexure-F to the counter affidavit dated 1stDecember, 2023 filed on behalf of the respondent-JSSC). The said action of the respondent-JSSC is highly arbitrary and illegal, as the petitioner despite being a member of S.T. community and being the resident of the State of Jharkhand, her candidature was not considered under the said category and due to the said reason, the appointment letter was finally not issued to her.
4. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-JSSC refers to paragraph nos.19 to 22, 25 and 26 of the counter affidavit, which read as under:-
"19. That it is stated that on date of verification of testimonials i.e. on 28.09.2018 petitioner appeared and submitted caste Certificate of S.T. Category issued on her husband's name in support of her claim.
20. That it is stated that since the caste certificates was issued in her husband's name and not in her father's name, it was not possible to ascertain whether she originally belonged to reserved category of the state of Jharkhand or not and as such a show cause Notice dated 28.09.2018 was issued to the Petitioner and she was directed to submit a valid caste certificate issued in her father's name vide annexure-4 to the writ application.
21. That it is stated that in reply to the Show Cause, Petitioner submitted her reply along with Caste Certificate No.TC/18/05514 dated 04.10.2018 issued in the name of her father.
22. That it would be evident from perusal of Annexure-D that the caste Certificate dated 04.10.2018 is also not valid for extending the benefits of reservation to the Petitioner in view of the fact that same has been issued from the office of Sub Divisional Office, Banka, Bihar stating therein that Petitioner is resident of State of Bihar.
25. That it would be evident from the facts stated above that as per declaration made by the Petitioner, petitioner was issued Admit card and she was also allowed to appear in the
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Examination but Petitioner at the time of verification of her testimonials failed to submit her valid caste certificate and as such benefits of reservation was not extended to her and her candidature was considered under unreserved category information to the said effect was also communicated to the candidates by Notice dated 14.02.2019.
26. That it is stated that since Petitioner secured less marks than the marks secured by the last successful candidate under unreserved category and as such she was not declared successful for appointment on the post of Graduate Trained Teachers for subject- Hindi for Sahebganj- District."
5. It is also submitted that similar issue has already been decided by this Court in W.P.(S) No.5577 of 2019 (Asha Kumari Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors.) vide judgment dated 4thJanuary, 2024 and the said writ petition has been dismissed.
6. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record.
7. It appears that the petitioner while submitting her online application form on 24thMarch, 2017, mentioned about Caste Certificate No.JHCC/2017/99233 dated 7thFebruary, 2017 issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, Rajmahal (Jharkhand), however, the said caste certificate was issued in the name of her husband- Prem Kumar Besra. In course of verification of documents, the JSSC vide letter dated 28thSeptember, 2018 asked her to submit caste certificate issued in the name of her father. Thereafter, she submitted another caste certificate issued by the office of the Sub Divisional Officer, Banka (Bihar) on 4thOctober, 2018. As per the stand taken in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent-JSSC, the said caste certificate was not taken into consideration with respect to the
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petitioner's claim for being considered under ST category, as the same was not issued by the concerned authority of the Government of Jharkhand, rather it was issued by the office of the Sub Divisional Officer, Banka (Bihar). It further appears that the said caste certificate was issued after the last date of submission of online application form i.e. 25thApril, 2017 and, therefore, the same was also not treated valid in terms with Clause 8(V)(i)(ii) & (iii) as well as Clause 9 (ii) of Advertisement no.21 of 2016.
8. So far as the issue with respect to validity of caste certificate regarding the same advertisement i.e. Advertisement no.21 of 2016 is concerned, this Court in the case of Asha Kumari (Supra.), after considering the judgments rendered by the Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the cases of Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao Vs. Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College & Ors., reported in (1990)3 SCC 130
and Action Committee on Issue of Caste Certificate to SCs/STs in the State of Mharashtra & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Anr., reported in (1994)5 SCC 244, has held that merely because the caste certificate of Backward Class-II was issued to the said petitioner by the Sub Divisional Officer, Deoghar, she could not have claimed the benefit of reservation in the State of Jharkhand in view of the settled position of law that a person, who had migrated to the other State would get the benefit of reservation only in the State of origin.
9. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner has, in fact, not migrated from the State of Bihar to
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the State of Jharkhand, rather her father was employed in the State of Jharkhand and she was born and brought up in the State of Jharkhand and hence the caste certificate issued in the name of her husband as well as her father should have been considered as valid by the respondent-JSSC and the benefit of reservation under ST category should have been extended to her.
10. This Court does not find any force in the said submission of learned counsel for the petitioner, as admittedly pursuant to the notice dated 28thSeptember, 2018, the petitioner submitted the caste certificate in the name of her father issued by the office of the Sub Divisional Officer, Banka, which is situated in the State of Bihar. Moreover, the said caste certificate mentions that the petitioner as well as her family members are the residents of village Basmata, P.S. Belhar, Sub-division Banka, District Banka (Bihar). Thus, the said caste certificate can be used by the petitioner in support of her claim that she belongs to "Santhal" community of the concerned village situated in the State of Jharkhand.
11. Under the aforesaid facts and circumstances, this Court is of the view that the caste certificates produced by the petitioner before the respondent-JSSC did not conform the requirement of the terms and conditions of Advertisement no.21 of 2016. Thus, she has failed to make out any case for issuance of direction upon the respondent authorities to issue appointment letter to her pursuant to the said advertisement.
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12. This writ petition being devoid of merit is, accordingly, dismissed.
13. I.A. No.1208 of 2024 is also dismissed.
(Rajesh Shankar, J.) Sanjay/