VYAS, J. - (1.) BY the instant petition, the petitioner has prayed that a writ, order or direction in the appropriate nature may be issued in his favour and the respondent- the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as `the RPSC') may be directed to change/correct the category of the petitioner from General to OBC category and, accordingly, his result may be declared and, on found suitable, he may be allowed to appear in the Main Examination, 2003, with all consequential benefits.
(2.) BRIEF facts, giving rise to the instant petition are that the petitioner belongs to Other Backward Caste (OBC) as is evident from the Certificate dated 3. 12. 1999 (Annexure 1) issued by the Tehsildar, Desuri, District Pali (Rajasthan ). On April 6, 2003, the RPSC published an advertisement No. 1, by which applications were invited for the purpose of direct recruitment to the post of Rajasthan Administrative and Subordinate Services by way of Combined Competitive Examination, 2003. In the aforesaid advertisement, eligibility, criteria and procedure has been laid down and the last date for submitting the application form was June 7, 2003. Since the petitioner was possessing requisite qualifications, he applied for the Combined Competitive Examination, 2003, in the prescribed and proper proforma, within stipulated time period. An admission card for RAS/rts (Preliminary) Examination, bearing Roll No. 328085 (Annexure 2) was issued to the petitioner. The petitioner appeared in the Examination held on October 12, 2003 and the result was declared on December, 7, 2003, in which, after scaling, the petitioner obtained 276 marks. It is further averred by the petitioner in the instant petition that a press note dated December 16, 2003 (Annexure 3) was issued by the RPSC, in which the details of total number of posts, number of success candidates and their cut off marks categorywise were given. According to that press note (Annexure 3), for a male candidate in OBC category, last cut off marks were shown as 273, for the purpose of allowing the candidate to appear in the Main Examination. It is also averred by the petitioner in the instant petition that as per a Note appended to Admission Card (Annexure 2), if category has been wrongly filled up by a candidate in the application form, then the candidate must inform the RPSC with regard to change/correct the category within a period of ten days from the date of the Examination. Therefore, the petitioner vide letter dated 13. 10. 2003, sent through ordinary post, informed the RPSC about the change of category from General to OBC, which, according to the petitioner, was wrongly filled up by him, while filling up the Examination Form. The Result of the Examination was declared on December 7, 2003. As per the petitioner, he sent a Registered letter on January 12, 2003 (Annexure 5), enclosing therewith a copy of the earlier letter as well as the Caste Certificate. The letter was received by the RPSC on the next date, i. e. , January 13, 2004. Thereafter, the petitioner sent reminders by Registered letters dated March 10, 2004 and June 21, 2004 (Annexure 6 and 7) respectively, but no response was given by the RPSC. Therefore, being aggrieved by the no-response of the RPSC, the petitioner has preferred the instant petition. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that some girls candidates, bearing Roll No. 42356 of Sarita Buria, Roll No. 443024 of Rashmi, Roll No. 457550 of Sudha Deval and Roll No. 521126 of Rukmani Meena, who wrongly filled up the category, but after declaration of the result, they moved the applications for changing their category. Their applications were accepted by the RPSC and their categories were changed vide letter dated April 9, 2004, but, in the case of the petitioner, no heed was paid by the RPSC and, according to the learned counsel, a hostile discrimination between the petitioner and the simililarly situated candidates has been made, though the petitioner has moved the application for change of his category vide letter dated October 13, 2003 within the stipulated time period as per terms and conditions of the RPSC, but his category from General to OBC was not changed.
(3.) IT is also submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that there are certain candidates, whose category has been changed by giving liberal construction to the terms and conditions and by giving them relaxation. The petitioner has given names of the candidates viz. Sarita Buria, Rashmi, Sudha Deval and Rukmani, who applied for changing their gender, which was inadvertently filed by them while filling up the Examination Form; they were permitted by the RPSC, even after the stipulated period of ten days, whereas, in the case of the petitioner, a hostile discrimination has been made by the RPSC, by not permitting him to change his category, though his case is similarly situated to that of the four aforesaid candidates, whose gender has been allowed to be changed by the Commission. According to the learned counsel, the change of gender means the change of category. In support of his contention, learned counsel for the petitioner has referred to the case of Mrs. Urmila Meena vs. State of Rajasthan & Others (S. B. Civil Writ Petition No. 8054/2004 and 3 other petitions) decided by the Jaipur Bench, on May 30, 2005, in which the petitioner had submitted their applications for appearing in the Rajasthan State and Subordinate Service Competitive Examination held in October, 2003. They passed the preliminary examination, but were not allowed by the RPSC to appear in the Main Examination on the ground that they had not correctly filled the optional subjects in their application forms. By the interim of the order, the petitioner were allowed to inform the R. P. S. C. the optional subjects, they intended to appear in the Main Examination. Then, in such a situation, this Court held that since there is a provision for change of optional subjects, after declaration of the result of the Main Examinations, therefore, the Commission should take a sympathetic haromious constructions in larger interest of the candidates. The question was only allowing the candidates to appear in the Main Examination, so this technical objection of the Commission was removed by the Court. But, here, in the instant case, the petitioner claims to have sent the letter dated 13. 10. 2003 to the Commission by ordinary post. Thereafter, he is said to have sent the Registered letter on March 10, 2004 along with the O. B. C. Certificate. The letter of the petitioner was not received by the Commission. The Postal Agency is not Agency of the Commission, so if the letter sent by the petitioner does not reach the Commission within time period, the RPSC is not responsible for it. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the RPSC - Respondent that the admission card was issued to the petitioner, in which the category of the petitioner was mentioned as General. It was clearly mentioned in the admission card that the request for change of category should be made within ten days of the preliminary examination. Thus, the petitioner was required to make request for change of category within ten days of the examination. The examination was held on October 12, 2003 No. request was received by the respondent Commission from the petitioner for change of category on or before October 22, 2003. ;