Technical Hurdles Shouldn't Block Substantial Justice: Rajasthan HC Directs Appointment Of Candidate As Lab Technician

The Court provided relief to a petitioner who had applied for a lab technician position but was denied despite scoring higher than some selected candidates. The petitioner’s application was rejected on the grounds that he did not fill out his experience certificate exactly as per the guidelines specified in the job advertisement.

A Bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur said, “When substantial and technical consideration are pitted against each other, the cause of substantial justice deserves to be preferred. Procedural and technical hurdles shall not be allowed to come in the way of the court while doing substantial justice.”

Advocate Yash Pal Khileree appeared for the Petitioner and AAG N.S.Rajpurohit appeared for the Respondents.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that another candidate, who had submitted an experience certificate in the same format as the petitioner’s, was appointed, indicating possible discriminatory treatment.

The Court found that the petitioner’s experience certificate was nearly identical to the prescribed format, with only one additional question in an extra column. However, the petitioner had already provided the required information through other documents submitted with the application. Therefore, the Court deemed it unjust to refuse the petitioner’s appointment based solely on the omission of this single column, especially when a similarly formatted certificate from another candidate had been accepted.

The Court added, “The application of rules should be applied with a humane approach. It must be grasped that the judiciary is respected not on account of its power to legalize injustice on technical grounds but because it is capable of removing injustice and is expected to do so. If the procedural violation does not seriously cause prejudice to the adversary party, courts must lean towards doing substantial justice rather than relying upon procedural and technical violation. The litigation is nothing but a journey towards truth which is the foundation of justice and the court is required to adopt pragmatic approach while doing the substantial justice.”

Consequently, the Court overturned the rejection of the petitioner’s application and directed that he be appointed to the position of Lab Technician.

Cause Title: Bhagwan Puri Goswami v. State of Rajasthan & Ors., [2024:RJ-JD:36090]

Appearance:

Respondents: AAG N.S.Rajpurohit, Advocate Anita Rajpurohit.