CWP No.15327 of 2004 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. C. W. P. No. 15327 of 2004 Date of Decision: 13 - 10 - 2010 Devender Chahal and another ....Petitioners v. State of Haryana and others ....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA *** Present: Mr.Kamal Sharma, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr.Sukhvinder Singh Nara, Sr. DAG, Haryana. *** KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) The present petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution praying that a writ in the nature of certiorari be issued and selection of candidates for the posts of Horticulture Development Officers made by respondent No.3 for the General Category and also for the dependent of Freedom Fighters in pursuance of advertisement No.3/2003 category No.27 dated 6.7.2003 be quashed. Briefly stated, the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments of the State of Haryana, issued an advertisement inviting applications for filling up 20 posts of Horticulture Development Officers. Out of those, 10 posts were reserved for General category, 3 for SC-A, 2 for SC-B, 2 for BC- CWP No.15327 of 2004 [2] A, 2 for BC-B and 1 for ESM (General). It is not disputed that petitioner No.2, a dependent of Ex- servicemen, was eligible qua one post reserved for that category but was considered as a General category candidate because as stated, he had not annexed the certificate being a dependent of Ex-servicemen with his application form submitted to the Haryana Staff Selection Commission. The post reserved for dependent of Ex-servicemen was shifted to the category of dependent of Freedom Fighters and respondent No.14 – Kuldeep Singh Kohar was to be appointed as Horticulture Development Officer qua the post reserved for dependent of Freedom Fighters. It is an admitted case of the parties that respondent No.14 – Kuldeep Singh Kohar has not joined the post and the same is lying vacant. Counsel for petitioner No.2 submits that he had annexed the eligibility certificate from which it should be construed that case of petitioner No.2 fell in the reserved category for dependent of Ex- servicemen, but that certificate was lost some where in transit. Counsel further states that at the time of interview, petitioner No.2 produced the eligibility certificate to show that his case be considered in the category of dependent of Ex-servicemen. The Secretary, Haryana Staff Selection Commission has filed a written statement, in which it has been stated as under:- “4.......... Sh.Sanjeev Singh, petitioner No.2 did not attach the eligibility certificate along with his application form and he only attached the dependent certificate, although he submitted the eligibility certificate at the time of interview which was issued after the closing date of advertisement and as such it was not entertained and the claim of the petitioner No.2 was considered in general category and on the basis of marks CWP No.15327 of 2004 [3] secured by him.” Counsel for the petitioner has relied upon Dilwan Singh and others etc. etc. v. State of Haryana and others etc. etc., 1996(2) RSJ 514 to state that Selection Board can examine in case of any doubt the testimonials submitted by a candidate to satisfy the requirement. On the observations made by this Court as to why petitioner No.2 could not be considered for selection against the vacant post, counsel for the State, on instructions from Mr.Satbir Sharma, Establishment Officer, office of Director, Horticulture Haryana states that since one post is lying vacant, the claim of petitioner No.2 can be considered sympathetically. Counsel for the petitioners states that writ petition survives only qua petitioner No.2, as the writ petition was dismissed as withdrawn qua petitioner No.1 on 27.4.2006. In view of the statement made by counsel for the State, the present writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondents to consider the claim of petitioner No.2 qua the vacant post sympathetically. However, there will be no order as to costs. ( KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA ) October 13, 2010. JUDGE RC