MANOJ MISRA,J. - (1.) Heard Sri Santosh Kumar Singh for the petitioner; Sri V.K. Upadhyay, senior counsel assisted by Sri Arun Prakash, for the respondents (Banaras Hindu University - BHU and its officers); and have perused the record.
(2.) The facts giving rise to this petition are as follows: Pursuant to advertisement no.02/2017-2018 issued by BHU for inviting applications for appointment on Non-teaching and School Teaching posts and Professorial Endowment Chairs, the petitioner submitted on line application for Post Code: 4441 (Staff Nurse). To enable successful submission of the application, there were four stages to be fulfilled. The last date for fulfillment of those four stages were: (i) 17.06.2017 for online submission of application; (ii) 19.06.2017 for online application fee payment; (iii) 21.06.2017 for application form PDF download; and (iv) 24.06.2017 for submission of downloaded application form along with the enclosures. In respect of application for Chair there was a fifth stage also, that is with regard to submission of Bio-data, for which, last date was 24.06.2017. The relevant eligibility conditions for Staff Nurse (Post Code 4441) were as follows: "For Post Code:4441 (Staff Nurse): E.Q.: (i) B.Sc. (Hons.) in (Nursing) from a recognised University or Institute OR Regular course in B.Sc. Nursing from a recognised University or Institute. OR Post Basic B.Sc. (Nursing) from recognised University or Institute. (ii) Registered as Nurse or Nurse and Midwife (RN or RN and RM) with State Nursing Council and (iii) Six months experience in Minimum fifty bedded hospital after acquiring the educational qualifications mentioned above OR II (i) Diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery from a recognised Board or Council.(ii) Registered as Nurse or Nurse and Midwife (RN or RN and RM) with State Nursing Council.(iii) Two and half years experience in minimum fifty bedded hospital after acquiring the educational qualifications mentioned at II (i) above."
(3.) The general instructions to the candidate, contained in the advertisement, specifically provided that online mode of submission of applications shall be essential. The applicants shall first register on the Recruitment and Assessment Cell portal on the BHU website, after which, they can fill up the prescribed electronic application form online. It was specifically instructed that before starting to fill up the form, the candidate should ensure that a digital copy of passport size photograph in JPEG format not exceeding 50 kb in file size and digital copy of signature not exceed 50 KB, for up-loading is ready. Instruction no.6 provided that filling all mandatory fields is required to make the application complete. Instruction no.7 provided that incomplete applications will not be considered and will be rejected. The other relevant instructions in the advertisement were as follows: "8. While filling the online application, if your browser closes unexpectedly or if you are logged out, please use the login information sent to your email to login again. 9. In case of any technical problems, please send an email to recruitment@bhu.ac.in. 10. There are several Tabs in your application. After completing each tab, you should click on "Save and Proceed" button to saving the information and move to the next tab. Completing all tabs is necessary. After filling all tabs, the candidate can finally submit his application. Please note that you cannot make any changes after that. 11. On successful submission, the applicant will come across a link to download a PDF of the application, which he/she will have to print and send to BHU after signing it and having it forwarded by his employer, if any, with the requisite application fee, so as to reach BHU by the last date. 12. Mere eligibility will not entitle any candidate for being called for interview. More stringent criteria including holding written test may be applied for short-listing the candidates to be called for interview. Applicants having higher qualification and merit or higher marks in the written test will be given preference in case of Group A posts. --------- 29. The applications shall be invited through online mode. The applicants should be required to submit their downloaded application form (hard copy after filling it online, along with all the enclosures to the Office of the Registrar Recruitment and Assessment Cell, Holkar House, BHU by last date for submission of downloaded application along with the enclosures must reach to the Recruitment and Assessment Cell, Holkar House, B.H.U., Varanasi-221005 by the last date of submission of applications. 30. The eligibility of the candidate will be determined on the last date of submission of application in the Recruitment and Assessment Cell, Holkar House, BHU, Varanasi, i.e. 24.06.2017. 31. Please visit website:http://www.bhu.ac.in for application form, details of qualifications and other instructions in this regard." ;