Today, On 16th September, Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the plea of a judiciary aspirant who mistakenly declared he had multiple wives, observing that a candidate has to be extremely careful and vigilant while filing his application form in competitive exams.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court denied relief to advocate Pardeep Kumar, who mistakenly indicated in his application for the position of Additional District & Sessions Judge in the Haryana Superior Judicial Service that he has more than one wife.
A notification for the recruitment of 25 posts specified that candidates with multiple spouses are ineligible for the district judiciary service, and applicants were required to answer a question regarding their marital status with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Kumar accidentally marked ‘yes’ in response to this question.
The Division Bench, consisting of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry, dismissed his petition challenging the rejection of his application based on this error.
Chief Justice Nagu remarked,
“You yourself state that you have two wives. How do they know whether you have one wife or two wives or three wives? It is for you to declare. If you declare it wrongly, then what is their fault in cancelling your candidature,”
Kumar’s lawyer, Mazlish Khan, argued that Kumar would gain no advantage from this mistake and noted that the examination is yet to be conducted.
He claimed the error was unintentional and requested permission for Kumar to sit for the exam scheduled on September 19.
However, the counsel for the High Court cited the recruitment notification, which clearly stated that no requests for changes to the application would be entertained at a later stage, and that candidates are responsible for any errors in their applications.
The bench emphasized that once a candidate makes a false declaration, they bear the burden of proof to correct it.
The Court asked,
“You will have to give proof you don’t have two wives. How do you do that?”
Kumar contended that since he mentioned his wife’s name, it should imply he has only one wife, but the Court dismissed this argument. It reiterated that competitive exams are intricate and require strict adherence to timelines.
Ultimately, the Court dismissed Kumar’s petition, stating,
“A candidate has to be extremely careful and vigilant while filing his application form and slightest of mistake can entail cancellation of his candidature. In competitive exams, it is extremely important to adhere to the timelines and no process can be stalled or delayed due to an inadvertent mistake of any candidate…. In view of the above and the law laid down by the apex court… this Court cannot help the petitioner and the present petition stands dismissed.”
Case Title: Pardeep Kumar v State of Haryana and Another