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Dr. Ritesh Kumar Tarun v. State of Bihar & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 855Decided 24 Sept 2018
Civil Appeal No. 9869 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

The appellant, a doctor, was denied 10 marks in a recruitment interview on the ground that he had not produced his Diploma in Orthopaedics certificate at the time of the interview. He contended that he had, in fact, submitted his mark sheet at the interview, which carried an endorsement that he had passed the Diploma. He challenged the denial of marks before the Supreme Court after the matter reached it through a special leave petition.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the mark sheet produced before the Interview Board was sufficient evidence of having passed the Diploma, and that the appellant should therefore have been granted the 10 allotted marks for that qualification. The Court allowed the appeal and issued specific directions: the appellant was to produce his original Diploma certificate before the recruiting Commission within two weeks, the Commission was to reassess him and send its recommendation to the Government within a further two weeks, and the State Government was to act on that recommendation within two weeks thereafter.

Lesson Learnt

In recruitment and selection processes, if a candidate has actually placed adequate documentary proof of a qualification before the interview board, even if the exact certificate was not produced, marks for that qualification cannot be denied on a technicality, and courts can direct a time-bound reassessment to correct the error.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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