A bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher and Justice Talwant Singh dismissed the plea filed by Ms. Aashima Goyal, who had applied under the EWS category for CSE 2019, noting that “there is a perceptible and a real doubt as to the petitioner fulfilling the family income eligibility criteria”.
Ms. Goyal had taken the CSE 2019 and cleared both the preliminary and the main examination as well as the interview. She secured 65th rank in the merit list, and was, consequently, recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for allocation of service.
After the result for the main examination was declared, UPSC informed her that a discrepancy had been noticed in her detailed application form (DAF) concerning the Income and Asset Certificate (I&A) Certificate submitted by her.
The authorities discovered that the I&A Certificate filed by her disclosed that she did not meet the eligibility criteria for securing the post under the EWS category.
The rule
To take the benefit of reservation under the EWS category, a candidate would have had to demonstrate that his/her family had a gross annual income below ₹8 lakhs.
As per the rule, the expression ‘family’ includes the person seeking the benefit of the reservation, his/her parents and siblings below the age of 18 years, as also his/her spouse and children below the age of 18 years.
The High Court noted that in the relevant period, financial year 2017-18, Ms Goyal had earned an income of ₹5.75 lakh. Her father, in the first instance, had filed his ITR for same financial year disclosing that he had earned an income of ₹3.81 lakh.
“If this return of the petitioner’s father is taken into account, and the ITR of the petitioner for the same period was factored in, the combined income of the family would be ₹9,57,157. In other words, the petitioner, undoubtedly, would not meet the income eligibility criteria,” the court said.
However, Ms Goyal’s father revised his return for same year disclosing an income of ₹1.04 lakh, which the High Court termed as doubtful.
Ms. Goyal had argued that the income of an applicant seeking the benefit of reservation under EWS can only be ascertained by the concerned Tehsildar. She argued that the DoPT erred in involving the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to ascertain whether she fulfilled the income eligibility criteria.
The court, however, remarked that DoPT was “entitled to seek information from credible sources before concluding, as to whether or not the concerned candidate has correctly claimed reservation under the EWS category”.
“In this case, information was sought from the CBDT by the cadre controlling authority. We do not find anything wrong in the approach adopted by respondent no.1 (DoPT); CBDT was, without doubt, a reliable source,” it added.
