- (1.) Petitioner has approached this Court by way of instant writ petition filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, seeking a writ in the nature of mandamus for issuance of direction to respondent Nos. 1 to 3 to appoint the petitioner as JBT Teacher under the OBC Category (vide recruitment notice/advertisement-Annexure P- 4) as the petitioner belongs to 'Swarnkar' community, which has been declared as OBC by Chandigarh Administration.
(2.) Petitioner who is permanent resident of Chandigarh (P-1) belongs to 'Swarnkar' community, which is recognised as Other Backward Class by the Government of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as well as by the Chandigarh Administration (P-3). Respondent No. 2 vide recruitment notice invited applications from eligible candidates for filling up various sanctioned posts of JBT and Nursery Teachers in Chd. Admn. In the pay scale of 10300-34800+ 4200-Grade Pay with initial start of Rs.16290/- on contract basis at a fixed remuneration of Rs.16000/- per month and out of total JBT teachers of 489, 177 were kept reserved for OBC category (P-4). The petitioner appeared in the examination and secured 114 marks and was shown at Sr. No. 342 in the list (P-5). In the fourth merit list, the candidates who had secured 113 marks were found eligible for appointment. However, the respondents while preparing the merit list has not shown the petitioner in the list of eligible candidates under OBC category and was shifted to General Category on the ground that the 'Swarnkar' community does not exist in the Central List and U.T List (P-7). The petitioner thereafter, approached respondent No 3 who had issued OBC certificate to the petitioner for clarification as to whether 'Swarnkar' community is valid OBC or not and vide letter dated 23.04.2015, the petitioner was informed that as per UT notification dated 26.03.2015, the castes at Sr. No. 62 include Sunar/Swarnkar/Swarnakar (P-8 and P-9). Apart from this vide letter dated 03.08.2015 Department of Personnel, Chandigarh Administration had issued directions to all the Administratives Secretaries/Head of Departments/Office/Institutions/Boards/Corporations of Chandigarh Administration that a person would be eligible for benefit of reservation of Other Backward Class whose caste is notified in the State List of Other Backward Classes of U.T. Chandigarh. In spite of the above clarification, the petitioner is not been appointed under the OBC category and has been put under the status of Eligibility under consideration (P-11). Further vide notification dated 17.02.2014 of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, Swarnkar community has been notified as valid OBC caste for U.T (P-12) The short point for consideration before this Court is that whether the petitioner who belongs to Swarnkar community will fall under the OBC category and if yes, whether she was eligible to be appointed as she got 114 marks, when candidates who had secured 113 marks were found eligible for appointment.
(3.) Learned counsel for the respondent while referring to written statement filed by respondent No. 3 contends that the name of the petitioner was shifted from OBC to General as the certificate relied upon by the petitioner (P-3) was issued to the petitioner after shifting her to General Category. The petitioner had applied to Sub Divisional Magistrate (Central) U.T Chandigarh in the year 2012 for the issuance of certificate of OBC;