BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the state government challenging the order dated August 1, 2018, passed by the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal which directed the state to appoint an applicant, Manjunath K, an SC youth from Tumakuru taluk, for the post of excise guard, whose candidature was rejected by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) for wrong entry of date of birth in the SSLC marks card.
A division bench of Justice S G Pandit and Dr Justice Chillakur Sumalatha said the state has denied lawful entitlement to an applicant.
The court said that a welfare state must set an example of fairness in action, responsibility in deeds and accountability in functioning. Courts cannot permit administrative lapses of the state to defeat the legitimate rights of citizens, the court added.
The state government submitted that there was a delay in filing the appeal in 2021 against the 2018 Tribunal order because of the lockdown imposed during the COVID period.
The court, however, noted that there was no pandemic due to Covid in 2018 and the lockdown started in March 2020 only. This writ petition was filed in February 2021, if we could say so, very leisurely. For state, this issue may be one among thousands or lakhs.
However, for an un-employee, to earn bread and butter, every day is a challenge. Therefore, the state cannot take shelter under the umbrella of the pandemic and seek to condone the inordinate delay. Thus, on every count, the state fails, the court noted.
