Court directs AIIMS to process candidature of candidate who produced OBC-NCL certificate after extended deadline, citing COVID-19 delays and substantive reservation rights
In a significant judgment dated September 29, 2026, the Delhi High Court (Division Bench) dismissed the writ petition filed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT) order that upheld the validity of an OBC Non-Creamy Layer (NCL) certificate produced by a candidate after the prescribed period during a recruitment process.
The case involved Girdhari Lal Jakhar, who applied for the post of Driver Ordinary Grade (Grade C) at AIIMS under the OBC-NCL category. While he succeeded in the written examination securing 5th rank, his candidature was rejected by AIIMS on the ground that the OBC-NCL certificate he submitted was issued on September 13, 2022, which was beyond the stipulated window period of April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, as required by the recruitment advertisement.
The recruitment advertisement clearly mandated that the OBC-NCL certificate must be issued within the financial year 2020-2021 to ensure the candidate's status during that period. However, the Court observed that AIIMS had itself extended the deadline for submission of the certificate by 15 days, acknowledging the difficulties faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic which severely restricted access to government offices.
Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Nivedita Anil Sharma emphasized that the primary objective behind prescribing the certificate issuance period was to verify the candidate's OBC-NCL status for the relevant financial year. The Court noted that unlike SC/ST status which is permanent, the non-creamy layer status may fluctuate, and thus the certificate's issuance date should not become an inflexible technical barrier defeating the candidate's substantive reservation rights.
The Court further held that since AIIMS did not dispute the competence of the issuing authority, the genuineness of the certificate, or the candidate's actual OBC-NCL status, rejecting the candidature solely on the late issuance of the certificate was not justified. The judgment also highlighted that the advertisement did not annex or provide the prescribed format for the OBC certificate as per the Department of Personnel and Training's Office Memoranda, which added to the confusion for the candidates.
The Delhi High Court upheld the CAT's decision and directed AIIMS to process the candidature of Girdhari Lal Jakhar within eight weeks. The Court lauded the professional conduct of the counsel representing AIIMS, acknowledging their preparedness and arguments despite the outcome.
This judgment underscores the judiciary's approach to balancing procedural requirements with equitable considerations, especially in light of exceptional circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic, and reinforces that substantive rights in reservation policies should not be defeated by rigid technicalities.
Bottom Line:
Recruitment - OBC-NCL certificate - Where candidate's OBC-NCL status for relevant financial year 2020-2021 is not disputed, candidature cannot be rejected merely because certificate, though pertaining to that year and issued by competent authority, was issued after 31.03.2021, especially when employer itself granted further time to produce certificate and delay was attributable to circumstances including COVID-19.
Statutory provision(s):
Article 226 of the Constitution of India, Department of Personnel and Training (DoP&T) Office Memoranda No. 36036/2/2013-Estt.(Res.) dated 30.05.2014, No. 36036/2/2013-Estt(Res-I) dated 31.03.2016
