Surendra Kumar Saini vs State Of Rajasthan And Ors

The case of the petitioner is that he applied for the post of Teacher Grade-III (Level-II) in the subject of Hindi for Zila Parishad, Sikar pursuant to the advertisement dated 31.7.2018. It has been submitted that as the applications were made on-line the petitioner availed of the services of E-Kiosk for filling up the application form. And in the process it appears that aside of the petitioner applying in the OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) category, to which he belongs, the Ex-serviceman category was also erroneously ticked by the person manning the E-Kiosk. Resultantly the petitioner is being treated in the OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) (Ex-serviceman) category for reason of the incorrect information which intruded in his on-line application form. He is therefore not being appointed as Teacher Grade-III (Level-II) in the subject of Hindi in Zila Parishad, Sikar or elsewhere as per his graded preference in the application form, which he would otherwise be, on his comparative merit, if treated only a OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) candidate. Counsel for the petitioner relied upon the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in the case of Kavita Choudhary Versus The Registrar (Examination) & Anr. {D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No. 1700/2017} decided on 1.11.2017 to contend that the DB has held that errors in the application form, if sought to be rectified before third party rights are created, should be cured, for it is human error and divine to forgive. It has been submitted that pursuant to the advertisement dated 31.7.2018 there are presently 100s of vacancies of Teacher Grade-III (Level II) in the subject of Hindi in Zila Parishad Sikar and / or in other Zila Parishads. And in the event the petitioner is allowed to change / rectify his category from OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) Ex- serviceman to OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) alone, no third party rights / interest is likely to be affected.

Mr. YS Jadaun appearing for the respondents cannot deny the law enunciated by this Court in the case of Kavita Choudhary Versus The Registrar (Examination) & Anr. (supra) stating that errors in on-line application form should be permitted to be cured at any stage before creation of third party rights. He also does not deny the assertion of counsel for the petitioner that there are several vacancies on the post of Teacher Grade-III (Level-II) in the subject of Hindi in Zila Parishad, Sikar and other Zila Parishads where the petitioner if meritorious could be appointed on the basis of preferences given in his application form.

Having taken into consideration the respective submissions as also the judgment of this Court in the case of Kavita Choudhary Versus The Registrar (Examination) & Anr. (supra), I am of the considered view that this petition is deserving of disposal with a direction that the petitioner's category subject to verification, be considered as OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) and not OBC (Non- Creamy Layer) (Ex-serviceman). The category of the petitioner on being so altered, he be considered for appointment on the post of Teacher Grade-III (Level-II) in the subject of Hindi in terms of his merit cum preferences for Sikar Zila Parishad and others in terms of his application form. The compliance with aforesaid direction be made within a period of four weeks from the date of the presentation of certified copy of this order.

Petition stands disposed of accordingly.