Patna: The Patna High Court has ruled that a married woman’s caste certificate cannot be rejected solely because it mentions her husband’s name instead of her father’s, observing that caste is determined by birth and a certificate merely records that status.
A division bench comprising Justice Mohit Kumar Shah and Justice Sourendra Pandey dismissed an appeal filed by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and directed it to appoint Dr Sushma Sharan as an Assistant Professor under the Scheduled Caste (SC) reservation quota.
The case relates to Dr Sharan’s application for the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology under the SC women’s quota, pursuant to BPSC Advertisement No. 20/2017.
Of the 74 advertised vacancies, 13 were reserved for SC candidates, including five seats earmarked for women. Dr Sharan appeared for the interview on February 28, 2018. However, when the BPSC declared the final results on August 8, 2019, her name did not feature in the selection list.
BPSC Treated Candidature Under Unreserved Category
The commission argued that Dr Sharan’s caste certificate carried her husband’s name instead of her father’s. It said a notice had been issued in 2018, giving her an opportunity to submit a corrected certificate.
As she did not furnish the revised document, the BPSC treated her candidature under the unreserved category.
Dr Sharan, however, argued that the recruitment advertisement did not require a caste certificate to mention the father’s name. She also submitted that both her father and husband belonged to the Scheduled Caste category.
Court Says Technical Error Cannot Deny Reservation Benefit
The division bench observed that the recruitment advertisement contained no condition requiring a candidate’s caste certificate to carry her father’s name.
The court further held that a candidate should not be deprived of her legitimate entitlement to reservation merely because of a technical discrepancy in the certificate.
Upholding the decision of the single-judge bench, the division bench dismissed the BPSC’s appeal and directed the commission to ensure Dr Sharan’s appointment under the Scheduled Caste reservation quota.
