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Food Corporation of India v. Rimjhim

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 502Decided 9 Apr 2019
Civil Appeal No. 3600 of 2019
Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had advertised a post of Assistant Grade-II (Hindi), requiring one year's experience in English-Hindi translation. A candidate, Rimjhim, ranked 6th in the merit list but was denied appointment because FCI said she had not produced a proper experience certificate along with her application or at the time of document verification. She challenged this in the Delhi High Court, where a Single Judge upheld FCI's decision, but the Division Bench reversed it, accepting certificates she later produced showing she did have the required experience. FCI then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed FCI's appeal and upheld the Division Bench's ruling in the candidate's favour. The Court held that the advertisement did not expressly require the experience certificate to be submitted along with the application, and FCI had never disputed the authenticity of the certificates the candidate later produced. Relying on its earlier rulings in Charles K. Skaria v. Dr. C. Mathew and Dolly Chhanda v. Chairman, JEE, the Court distinguished between an "essential" substantive requirement (actually having the experience) and a merely "ancillary" mode of proving it, holding that producing proof later does not invalidate a candidate's merit if the underlying qualification genuinely existed before the relevant date. FCI was directed to consider her for appointment on merits.

Lesson Learnt

When a job requirement is genuinely met, a technical delay or informality in submitting proof of that requirement should not be used to deny an otherwise meritorious candidate their rightful consideration: substance should prevail over rigid procedural formality.

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

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