IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition (SS) No. 1016 of 2009 Smt. Anju Bhotia …Petitioner Versus State of Uttarakhand and others …Respondents Mr. Manoj Tiwari, Sr. Advocate assisted by Mr. Alok Mehra, learned counsel for the petitioner. Mr. Dinesh Gahtori, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand/respondents. Hon’ble Nirmal Yadav, J. Heard learned counsel for the parties. By means of this petition the petitioner has challenged the order no. 161/XXX (2)/2009 dated 31.03.2009 issued by the Joint Secretary, Personnel Department on behalf of respondent no. 1 and consequential order dated 22.08.2009 passed by respondent no. 3 (contained in Annexure-8 to the writ petition). The brief facts of the present case are that the petitioner applied for the post of Group-C, which was advertised against seven posts reserved for Scheduled Tribes category candidates out of which two posts were reserved for Scheduled Tribes women candidates as per the Uttaranchal Procedure for direct recruitment for Group-C post (outside the purview of the Uttaranchal Public Service Commission) Rules 2003. The candidates were to appear in written examination and those who qualified the written examination had to appear for the typing test. The petitioner appeared in the typing test, however, she was not selected for the 2 said post, which were reserved for the Scheduled Tribes women candidate. In the counter affidavit, it is submitted that the petitioner could not qualify the typing test. The petitioner had to secure minimum speed of 25 w.p.m. in typing test as per the government order contained in Annexure No. CA-1 to the counter affidavit. It is further submitted by the respondents that the petitioner had typed only 24.9 words per minute and thus she could not secure the minimum speed in the typing test. There is no provision under the government instructions/ rules/regulations that 24.9 marks can be rounded off to 25 marks. It is not disputed that the petitioner belongs to Scheduled Tribes women category; she qualified the written examination held for the selection of Group-C posts. She also appeared in the typing test and secured 24.9 marks whereas qualifying marks are 25. It is quite surprising that the respondents are not applying the rule of prudence by rounding off the marks 24.9 to 25. It is well established practice that marks above 24.5 can be rounded off to 25 marks. Learned counsel for the petitioner referred to letter dated 2nd March 2009 of District Magistrate, Dehradun to the Secretary Personnel Department, State of Uttarakhand that one post of Scheduled Tribes women is still lying vacant in spite of the three rounds of typing test having been conducted. 3 Taking into consideration the overall aspect of the matter that the petitioner had duly qualified the written test and also obtained 24.9 marks in the typing test, the respondents should have rounded off the marks 24.9 to 25 and declared the petitioner as having qualified eligibility criteria for the post of Group-C. The order dated 22nd August 2009 passed by the Additional District Magistrate, Dehradun is set aside and the respondents are directed to consider the petitioner having qualified for the Group-C post under the quota meant for the Scheduled Tribe women candidate and issue appointment letter for the said post. The writ petition is allowed in the above terms. (Nirmal Yadav, J.) VKG 02.12.2010