SHAMPA SARKAR, J. - (1.) The petitioner applied for the post of Constable in the Central Armed Police Force. The recruitment process of such post is conducted by the Central Staff Selection Commission. The Admit Card was issued in favour of the petitioner. On March 1, 2019, while the petitioner was travelling by Bus, his handbag containing Voter Card, Aadhaar Card and PAN Card, went missing. Immediately thereafter, the petitioner lodged a General Diary with the Anandapur Police Station and on the basis of the same, Anandapur Police Station G.D. Entry No.87 dated March 1, 2019 was registered. The petitioner reached the examination centre with the Admit Card together with the copy of such G.D. Entry and requested the authorities to allow him to sit for the examination. The petitioner was disallowed. It is the contention of the petitioner that for identification of the petitioner, the photograph and the signature of the petitioner, which appear on the Admit Card, could have been verified by the authorities concerned and the question of impersonation did not arise, as the authorities themselves issued the Admit Card upon submission of scanned copies of the photograph and the signature of the petitioner. The petitioner prays that he may be allowed to sit for the examination to be held on March 11, 2019 or any day thereafter, as per the time-table fixed by the Central Staff Selection Commission.
(2.) It is submitted by the learned Advocate appearing on the behalf of Union of India that the authorities follow a strict procedure in case of recruitment of huge number of people and insist that original Voter Card, Aadhaar Card and other identify proof and documents should be produced at the examination centre. According to him, the entire instructions as aforesaid, are printed on the overleaf of the Admit Card and the authorities could not deviate from their own norms. The authorities were bound by their own rules and regulations in this regard. I have heard the learned Advocates appearing on behalf of the respective parties. It is true that the Central Staff Selection Commission and the other authorities are entitled to frame their own procedures and also insist upon the original Voter Card, Aadhaar Card and other documents to be produced at the examination centre and also at the time of employment. These are the administrative decisions taken by the authorities and this Court in judicial review, cannot go into the question of correctness of such decisions of the authorities. Whether the petitioner will be entitled to appointment without any original certificate and other documents is another matter, as is not decided in this proceeding. The Rules and Regulations will follow in such a situation. However, prima facie, I find that this was not an intentional laches on the part of the petitioner but an unfortunate incident happened, for which he was unable to produce his relevant documents at the examination centre and due to paucity of time could not obtain duplicates thereof from the issuing authorities. However, with regard to the question of impersonation, the identification of the petitioner, his signature and the photograph are available on the Admit Card issued by the authorities themselves and the records of such Admit Card and the details of the applicants are maintained by the authorities and would have been available in the data saved by the authorities in their database. As such, the authorities can verify the identity of the petitioner therefrom. In case, the aforesaid documents are recovered or duplicates are received later on, yet, the examinations are over the petitioner will lose his valuable chance to appear at the examination, unless he is protected by any interim order directing the authorities to allow him to sit for the examination on any day available and convenient to the authorities subject to verification of his admit card and an attested photo copy of the Aadhaar Card.
(3.) The authorities, however, will not suffer any prejudice by such an interim order because the petitioner is already otherwise eligible to sit for the examination and has been issued an Admit Card and as such, no separate arrangement is required to be made by the authorities in this regard, nor will the examination process, which is going on, be hampered by such an interim order. It is, however, made clear that the petitioner will not claim any equity in his favour for being allowed to appear at the examination by this interim order. The date of the petitioner's participation in such examination will abide by the result of this writ petition. ;