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Synopsis

In a recent development, the Allahabad High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by a candidate seeking appointment as a Sanskrit teacher, whose application had reached the recruiters after the stipulated deadline, leading to the disqualification of his candidature.

The bench of Justice Vikas Budhwar noted that the pertinent Government Orders and the advertisement explicitly stated that applications were to be submitted both through registered post and email and despite the petitioner successfully sending his application via email on June 19, 2023, the application sent via registered post reached the recruiters one day after the stipulated deadline for application submission.

Regarding this, the judge, while referring to the full bench's judgments in Neena Chaturvedi Vs. UP Public Service Commission (2010) and Rajendra Patel Vs. State of UP (2016), held that in a recruitment process where the applications of the candidates are sought through the post, though the post office acts as an agent of the recruiters, the recruiters cannot be bound by any delay on the receipt of the application form.

He added that in the case at hand, the Government Orders and the advertisement in question were quite specific, loud, and clear and they could not be allowed to be twisted or tailored in a manner that suits the individual applicants.

"The Courts of law, in case, gives elasticity and leverage as sought by the writ petitioner then obviously the selection proceedings cannot be concluded as even otherwise law is very clear that cut of date is sometime painful to one and beneficial to other," said the judge while dismissing the petitioner's plea. 

The petitioner moved the high court seeking a mandamus to be issued directing the respondent authorities to consider his application for the post of Sanskrit Teacher at the Sukhnandan Sanskrit Pathshala, Mohammadpur, Mau.

He claimed that as was given in the concerned advertisement, he had sent his application both through registered post and email, however, due to a delay caused by the post office, his application via registered post arrived after the deadline. 

His contention was that this delay was beyond his control and should not be held against him.

His counsel argued that as per the decision in the Neena Chaturvedi case, once only a solitary mode is provided to send the required documents that too by registered post then the postal department becomes the agent of the recruiting authorities, therefore, mere receipt of the application form of the candidate after the due date though sent before the due date cannot be at the fault of the candidate. 

However, the petition was opposed by the respondent authorities, whose counsel argued that the terms and conditions mentioned in the advertisement were loud and clear. 

There were twofold requirements to be fulfilled by the applicant. The first and foremost was to submit the application form in hard copy before the concerned institution specified in the advertisement before the last date and the second step was to scan the v.  copy of the application submitted before the institution in question while transmitting it through Email, and the petitioner failed in complying with the first condition, therefore, his application cannot be considered, the counsel for respondents contended. 

The court held that the concerned Government Order as well as the advertisement notification were clear that the two exercises (application via post and Email) were dependent, which in entirety had not been adhered to by the petitioner, therefore, the decision of the authorities in not considering his application was not at fault.  

Case Title: Pankaj Kumar Priyam v. State Of U.P. And 2 Others