Surya Kant, J. - (1.) THIS order shall dispose of Civil Writ Petitions No. 9859, of 2009, 5786, and 13132 of 2011, as common questions of law and facts are involved in these cases. For brevity the facts are being extracted from Civil Writ Petition No. 9859 of 2009.
(2.) THE petitioner seeks a mandamus to direct the respondents to appoint her as J.B.T. Teacher against a post reserved for Backward Class category. The relief has been sought on the premise that the candidates lower in merit from the Backward class category have been given appointment to such posts. Respondents have filed their reply/affidavit explaining that the Backward Class Certificate produced by the petitioner along with her application form was invalid, hence no benefit of reservation has been granted to her.
(3.) WITH a view to appreciate the plea taken by the respondents for not extending the benefit of reservation to the petitioner, it would be apposite to reproduce General Condition No. 6 of the advertisement dated 05.09.2007 (Annexure P -9) which reads as follow: Candidate seeking reservation meant for the member of Scheduled Caste/Backward Classes of Punjab State only shall have to produce Scheduled Caste Certificate/Backward Class Certificate as applicable, as prescribed by the State Government, issued by the Competent Authority. The BC Certificate must not be older than one year on the last date of submitting the application in accordance with the institutions of Welfare Department issued vide dated 17.11.1994 and dated 18.8.2005, clearly indicating the caste. (emphasis supplied).;