MANOJ MISRA, J. - (1.) THESE two petitions of the same petitioner raises a short question that is, whether a candidate, who does not disclose correctly the number of attempts that he has taken in a competitive examination, in addition to the cancellation of his candidature for the concerned examination, could be debarred for a further period of 10 years from all the examinations to be conducted and selections to be made by the Public Service Commission.
(2.) THE facts, in brief, are that the petitioner, who belongs to OBC category, was entitled to take 7 attempts in the Civil Services Examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. For his candidature for the Civil Services (Pre) Examination, 2007 the petitioner was required to disclose the number of attempts that he had already taken. The petitioner in his application had disclosed that he had already taken six attempts. Thereafter the petitioner appeared in the Civil Services (Pre.) Examination, 2007, and was successful. After qualifying the preliminary examination, the petitioner submitted his application form for the Civil Services (Main) Exam, 2007. In the application form for the Main Examination the petitioner was required to submit information to the queries, which are as follows: (A) Column No.25 (a)- "How many times have you appeared at the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination held in 1979 and thereafter including the current Examination held in May, 2007. (Write 1,2,3,4,5.........etc in the opposite box as the case may be)." (B) Column No.25 (b)- "If you have already appeared at the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination held by the UPSC in 1979 or thereafter write in boxes opposite the year or years of examination in which you appeared thereat in ascending chronological order." (C) Column 27- "Particulars of U.P.S.C Examination/Recruitments by Selection applied for/appeared (including the Civil Service Examination) Name of Examination/Post Month and year of examination/Advt. No./Item No. for Recruitment Roll No. Whether you appeared at the Examination/Interview Whether you were recommended for appointment
(3.) THE petitioner in response to the query in column 25(a) mentioned 7; and in response to the query in column 25 (b) mentioned '01, "02, '03, "04, "05, "06 and "07, meaning thereby that he appeared in the examinations of the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Whereas, column 27 was left blank by the petitioner.;