UPSC Civil Service Exam : Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea By 3 Candidates Who Were Denied EWS Reservation Due To Error In Certificate

The bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and Justice KV Vishwanathan was hearing a plea by 3 candidates who challenged the action of UPSC(respondent) in treating them as General category candidates after declaring results as arbitrary and violative of Articles 14, 16, and 21 of the Constitution.

The petitioners submitted that they were successful candidates who had scored more than the EWS cutoff marks. They further submitted that the respondent changed their category after the declaration of results by issuing a letter on May 24th and May 30th, 2023 without giving any reason. They contended that this is an arbitrary, discriminatory violation of Art. 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

They submitted that they possessed the requisite income and asset certificate for the financial year 2020-21, as mandated by the respondent's guidelines. These certificates, they maintained, were furnished well within the stipulated deadline of February 22nd, 2022.

They contended that the change of category was a violation of clause 9(3) of the Examination notice which states that the candidate will be eligible for EWS reservation if they have the Income and Asset certificate based on income of FY 2020-21.

Furthermore, the petitioners alleged that their denial of EWS reservation was solely attributed to a clerical error committed by the competent authority. They highlighted the fact that this error was subsequently clarified and brought to the attention of the respondent, with supporting documentation submitted during the interview process.

The respondent had not only acknowledged the clarification but also accepted the certificates as valid at the time of the interview.

On 30th January 2023, the respondent intimated to them that their EWS certificates wrongly mention the year 2021-22. So, they should submit the original certificate with the correct financial year 2020-21 at the time of the interview.

The competent authority issued a clarification that there was a clerical error and the certificate should be read as Financial Year 2020-21. At the time of the interview, they submitted their certificates along with this clarification. The results were announced where they were not selected.

When their marksheets were published, they came to know that they had scored 951, 953 and 943 marks respectively which was more than the EWS cutoff marks of 926.

They requested the respondent to consider their candidature under the EWS category in view of clarification issued by the competent authority. The respondent replied that their certificates were not in the prescribed format and returned their original certificates on 19th June, 2023.

Aggrieved by the same, they filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court.

Case title: Vimlok Tiwari & Ors v. UPSC

Citation: W.P.(C) No. 705/2023

Advocate for Petitioners: Tanya Shree