The Delhi High Court has rejected a petition filed by a candidate aspiring to the post of Sub-Inspector (Staff Nurse) in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), for failing to mention his work experience in the application form. The Court emphasized the need for accuracy and diligence in the recruitment process for technical roles.
The candidate had over five years of experience working as a Male Nurse Staff in a private hospital. However, he was awarded zero marks out of five that were allocated for prior work experience in the selection criteria. The candidate claimed that the application form did not provide adequate space to mention his complete work experience details.
However, the Court noted that Clause 11 of the Recruitment Advertisement clearly stated that a photocopy of all relevant documents must be attached to the application form. Despite this instruction, the petitioner neither filled in the details of his work experience nor submitted a photocopy of his work experience certificate.
Highlighting the responsibility that comes with technical roles, the Division Bench comprising Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Ajay Digpaul observed:
"The petitioner, being an aspirant to a technical post such as that of Sub-Inspector (Staff Nurse), and possessing the requisite academic qualification of a three and a half years diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM), ought to have displayed a degree of prudence and clarity in understanding the requirements of the application process."
The Bench further noted:
"The petitioner had applied for the post of Sub-Inspector (Staff Nurse) which brings in high stake responsibility and warrants a candidate who carries prudence, and works with great caution. While the petitioner has sought to explain this lapse on the ground that the size of the column did not permit full disclosure, such a contention is unconvincing and does not explain the total absence of any mentioning of experience in a column which explicitly called for the same."
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During the hearing, the petitioner argued that as per the Advertisement, original documents were to be verified during the skill test stage, and hence there was no requirement to attach the experience certificate at the application stage.
The Court, however, rejected this reasoning, holding that:
"The law with regard to the consideration of a candidate's qualification or experience is well settled that the same will be seen as on the cut-off date for submission of application form."
While the Court acknowledged that minor technical lapses which do not affect other candidates' rights or the fairness of the recruitment process may be overlooked, it found that this case was different.
It stated:
"A perusal of the application form and the work experience certificate clearly indicate that the day on which the application form was submitted, the petitioner was not in possession of the work experience certificate."
Appearance: Mr. Nikhil Bhardwaj, Adv for Petitioner; Ms. Sarika Singh, SPC with Mr. Rahul Singh, Adv. for UOI. Mr. Ajay Pal, Law Officer, CRPF
Case title: Sanjay Kumar Yadav v. Union of India & Ors.
Case no.: W.P.(C) 3786/2024
