Bengaluru: Despite being qualified, a 26-year-old's chances of becoming a deputy range forest officer/surveyor hangs in the balance for a simple mistake she committed while filling up the online application for the job called for.
Candidates should mention the aggregate of percentage of all the subjects calculated together, but Pooja excluded the languages and gave the aggregate of only the other subjects.
After applying for the post, she successfully cleared physical endurance, written and medical tests. In the meantime, she realised her mistake and immediately brought it to the notice of the concerned officials. She requested the selection authority to read the aggregate as 86.25% instead of 89.21%. But it was too late by then and almost crushed her hopes of getting the job. She approached the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, but it dismissed her plea.
Eventually, she approached the High Court and her advocate argued that the selection list and the remarks column attached shows that several candidates had committed the same mistake. He submitted that Pooja’s mistake is curable and the tribunal should have considered this aspect.
After hearing both the advocates and by relying upon several Supreme Court judgements, the division bench headed by Justice L. Narayana Swamy on July 17 allowed her petition by directing the officials to consider her case with certain observations.
"It is trite to notice that in the present case, it is not that the petitioner did not process the required qualification. In fact, as noticed earlier even by taking the aggregate of the subjects, the petitioner would still be listed above, having secured 86.25%, whereas the last person in the general merit list had secured 81.47% and in 3B category the last person’s percentage was 79.38%. Therefore, even in the general merit list, the petitioner would have been placed higher in the merit list," court observed.
“... when a vacant post is available for the petitioner to be filled in accordance with law, this Court, in the interest of justice, would deem it fit to hold that the case of the petitioner needs to be considered sympathetically,” it said.
The court has directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Selection Authority, Bengaluru, to consider the case with direction to consider selection for the post of Deputy Range Forest Officer/Surveyor within two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the order. It has also made it clear that if any other candidate in 3B category was rejected for the same reason, such candidates case may also be considered along with the petitioner.
