Patna, July 30: The Patna High Court has ruled that the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) should verify a candidate’s teaching experience certificate with the concerned institution before denying marks solely because certain administrative details are missing.
Justice Ritesh Kumar issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by Abnish Kumar Arimarden, also known as Avanish Kumar Arimardan, who had challenged the assessment of his application for the post of Assistant Professor in Philosophy under Advertisement No. 15/2020–21.The petitioner claimed that the Commission had not awarded marks for his teaching experience at H.S. College in Haveli Kharagpur, Munger, where he had served between September 2013 and December 2017.
The Commission had reportedly declined to consider the period on the ground that the experience certificate did not mention a letter or memo number and the date of issuance.The certificate, however, had been countersigned by the Registrar of the concerned university.
The Court noted that the recruitment advertisement allowed candidates to receive two marks for every completed year of eligible teaching experience, subject to the certificate being countersigned by the university Registrar. It observed that the advertisement did not require the certificate to contain a letter or memo number or the date of issue.
During the proceedings, records placed before the Court indicated that the Principal of H.S. College had confirmed the authenticity of the petitioner’s teaching experience certificate.The Court held that the Commission should have sought verification from the relevant college or university before assigning zero marks to the candidate.
The petitioner was initially not called for the interview. However, during the pendency of the case, he was permitted to participate in the interview under an interim order. He secured 12 marks in the interview, taking his total score to 86.6, while the final cut-off for candidates in the Backward Class category was 88 marks.
The Court directed BSUSC to reassess the petitioner’s score after taking his teaching experience at H.S. College into account. If his revised score exceeds the prescribed cut-off, the Commission has been directed to appoint him to the post against a vacancy kept available under the Court’s earlier order.
While declining to grant back wages, the Court said that, if appointed, the petitioner would be entitled to seniority and other consequential service benefits from the date on which similarly placed candidates were appointed.
