STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: A Division Bench (DB) of the State High Court comprising Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta has allowed the appeal filed by Tahir Abdullah, son of Zaffer Mehdi, resident of Village Gulpur, Tehsil Haveli (Poonch) by setting aside the order dated May 18, 2017 to the extent it ordered extension of interim order dated July 11, 2016 whereby the writ court had stayed the selection of the appellant Tahir Abdullah against the post of Junior Engineer (JE) Civil under ALC category.
After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocate Sheikh Najeeb Ashraf appearing for the appellant whereas AAG L.K. Moza appearing for the State Government and Advocate Abhinav Sharma appearing for private respondent Mukesh Sharma, the Division Bench headed by Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur directed that the appointing authority i.e. Commissioner/Secretary to Govt. of J&K, Public Works Department would be at liberty to appoint the appellant Tahir Abdullah based upon the recommendations so made in his favour by J&K Service Selection Board subject to the outcome of the appeal as per the liberty granted by the writ court.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed appearing for the appellant submitted that Tahir Abdullah was in possession of the ALC certificate issued on September 12, 2009 which was valid for a period of five years and expired on September 11, 2014 and the same was not got renewed before the cut of date prescribed for submission of application forms for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) i.e. February, 6, 2015.
Division Bench while allowing the appeal relied upon a Judgment of the Full Bench of the State High Court titled Competent Authority Entrance Examinations J&K verses Mahesh Kumar Raina wherein it was held that a candidate must possess the eligibility on the cut of date and if claims he/she belongs to a particular category in the application form and unable to produce the proof/certificate before the cut of date inspite of his/her best efforts, the said certificate shall be permitted to be produced as proof before finalization of the selection for admission/appointment as producing proof is procedural and if no claim is made in the application the candidate cannot be permitted to produce proof of the same and such candidate shall be considered in open merit category.
Division Bench further observed that in the present case the certificate is purported to have been issued upon renewal before the finalization of selection process, therefore, on that score merely because proof had been submitted late, the same would not in any manner render the appellant ineligible for consideration in the said reserved category.
With these observations and directions the Division Bench allowed the appeal by directing the appointment of Tahir Abdullah as Junior Engineer (Civil) under ALC Category.