Title: Bhushan s/o Sangappa Chaudari v. State of Maharashtra & others
Decided on: 11th October 2023
WRIT PETITION NO.12653 OF 2023
CORAM: JUSTICES SUNIL B. SHUKRE & FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA
Introduction
The Bombay High Court has recently refused to reinstate the college admission of a student who failed to fulfil the condition of submitting Caste Validity Certificate on time due to a delay by the Caste Scrutiny Committee in processing his application.
Facts of the Case
The Petitioner was admitted to J. J. School of Arts on a reserved seat, subject to the condition that he was to produce Caste Validity Certificate on or before 14th August, 2023. Petitioner could not produce the Caste Validity Certificate before the expiry of cut-off date for which admission of the Petitioner came to be cancelled. Caste Validity Certificate was issued to the Petitioner on 16th August 2023, after a period of about 10 months from the date on which the Petitioner filed an application requesting for scrutiny and issuance of Validity Certificate. There was no fault on the part of the Petitioner and it was on the part of the Scrutiny Committee which had not followed the mandate of the sub-rule 10 of Rule 5 of the Caste Certificate Rules 2012. The aggrieved petitioner has therefore filed a writ petition seeking re-admission.
Court Analysis and Decision
Sub-rule 10 of Rule 5 of 2012 Rules lays down that the claim of the Caste Certificate shall be decided by the Competent Authority within 45 days. This Rule is applicable to a claim made for issuance of Caste Certificate and not applicable to a claim made for verification of the Caste Certificate. Therefore, sub-rule 10 of Rule 5 of Rules 2012 does not aid the Petitioner. As per subrule 5 of Rule 18 of the Rules, 2012 the time limit provided is three months on an ordinary course but in exceptional circumstances, time of additional two months has been provided for deciding the claims pertaining to verification of the Caste Certificates. As there’s no consequence prescribed for not adhering to the time limit by the Scrutiny Committee, this provision must be understood as directory and not mandatory in nature.
The admission process comprises several stages and each of the next stages cannot be completed unless the previous stage is over. For completing one stage of the admission process, a particular time limit is set, and that stage must be completed within the time limit prescribed for it otherwise the authority would find it difficult to move forward to the next step. If any extension for completion of one stage is granted, it would result in chaos and delay which will ultimately have its cascading effect upon the starting of academic year for students on time. If there is any delay in starting the academic year, it would necessarily adversely affect the quality of education. In some cases, it may happen that after extension of time is granted to submit Validity Certificate, the student may not be able to produce it because it was rejected. In such a case, his admission would be cancelled, and one seat would be wasted. Accordingly, the petition was dismissed as there was no merit.
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Written by- K R Bhuvanashri
