2025:UHC:9796 SL. No. Dat e Of f ice Not es, r ep or t s, or d er s or p r oceed in g s or d ir ect ion s an d Reg ist r ar ’s or d er w it h Sig n at u r es COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS W PSS 2 3 3 1 / 2 0 2 4 W PSS 2 2 4 9 / 2 0 2 4 W PSS 2 2 8 3 / 2 0 2 4 Hon ’ble Man oj Ku m ar Tiw ar i, J. Mr. Vinay Kumar, Mr. Anand Singh and Mr. Ravendra Singh Bisht, Counsel for the petitioners. Mr. Ganesh Datt Kandpal, Deputy AG, for the State. Mr. Rakshit Srivastava, Advocate, i/ b Mr. Ramji Srivastava, Advocate for the respondent no. 3. Mr. Atul Bahuguna, Advocate, for the respondent no. 4. (2) Since common questions of fact and law are involved in these writ petitions, therefore, these are being heard and decided together by this common judgment. However, for brevity, facts of Writ Petition (S/ S) No. 2331 of 2024 alone are being considered and discussed here. (3) Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board issued an advertisement on 11.3.2024, inviting applications against 1455 vacancies on the post of Nursing Officer in different governm ent medical colleges/ State Cancer Institute. Clause 6 of the said advertisement required that every candidate must be registered with Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council on the last date of submission of application. Petitioner responded to the advertisement, however her candidature was rejected only on the ground that she was not registered with Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council on the last of submission of application i.e. 1.4.2024. 2025:UHC:9796 (4) Petitioner was registered with Haryana Nurses and Midwives Council on 2.8.2013 and she applied for transfer of her registration to Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council on 6.2.2024; Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council sent a letter to Indian Nursing Council on 12.3.2024 and also sought verification report from Haryana Nurses and Midwives Council on 7.6.2024, however the fact remains that petitioner’s registration was not transferred from Haryana Nurses and Midwives Council to Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council till the last date of submission of application. (5) It is not in dispute that registration of the petitioner was ultimately transferred from Haryana Nurses and Midwives Council and her name came to be registered with Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council on 4.7.2024. Now, the sole question which falls for consideration before this Court is whether petitioner’s application for appointment as Nursing Officer can be rejected on the ground that her name was not registered with Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council on the last date of submission of application? (6) Learned Counsel for the petitioner relied upon a judgment rendered by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Laxmi Saroj v. State of U.P., reported as (2022) 17 SCC 477. In the said judgment, while dealing with sim ilar facts, Hon’ble Supreme Court held as under: “1 1 . Thus, because of the late issuance of the registration by the U.P. Council, the appellants could not produce the U.P. Council registration either on the last date of the application and/ or at the time of verification of documents and therefore, they were 2025:UHC:9796 held ineligible. 1 2 . From the aforesaid, it can be seen that as such, there was no fault on the part of the appellants in not producing the U.P. Council registration either at the time of submitting the application forms or even at the time of verification of the documents. As such, all the appellants except one had applied for U.P. Council registration before the date of advertisement i.e. 15-12-2021. Therefore, for no fault(s) of theirs, the appellants could not have been made to suffer. 1 3 . The issue involved is directly covered by the decision of this Court in Narender Singh v. State of Haryana [ Narender Singh v. State of Haryana, (2022) 3 SCC 286 : (2022) 1 SCC (L&S) 537] . In the said decision, it is observed and held by this Court that once it was found that there was no lapse/ delay on the part of the applicant and/ or there was no fault of the appellant/ applicant in not producing the NOC at the relevant time, he cannot be punished for the same. 1 4 . When the aforesaid decision was pressed into service before the High Court on behalf of the appellants, the High Court has not followed the same by observing that the directions issued by this Court in Narender Singh [ Narender Singh v. State of Haryana, (2022) 3 SCC 286 : (2022) 1 SCC (L&S) 537] , were in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of I ndia. The aforesaid is a misreading and/ or misinterpreting of the judgment of this Court. This Court has specifically laid down the law that if it is found that there is no lapse/ delay on the part of the applicant, he cannot be punished for no fault attributable to him. However, as in that case, another candidate/ employee was already appointed, this Court had protected his service also while exercising the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of I ndia. Therefore, exercise of the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India was for protecting the service of another employee, Respondent 4 in that case. The High Court has as such, misread the judgment of this Court.” (7) Since issue involved in these writ petitions is no longer res integra, therefore, this Court has no hesitation in holding that rejection of candidature of petitioners, only on the ground that they were not registered with Uttarakhand Nurses and Midwives Council on the last date of submission of 2025:UHC:9796 application, is unsustainable. Writ petitions are, therefore, allowed. Order dated 18.11.2024, passed by the selecting body rejecting petitioners candidature, is set aside qua the petitioners. Respondents are directed to consider the claim of petitioners for appointment as per applicable selection criteria and also declare the result. ( Man oj Ku m ar Tiw ar i, J.) 6 .1 1 .2 0 2 5 Pr PRABODH KUMAR Digitally signed by PRABODH KUMAR DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=3a082a00a95aff911a9559743af8f21c50602ff6eae4e61af3aeab198d462503, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=0DC111E8D8CA66E16B940EFDF806ACCC1AB588052DF6FCA58C67F3C91957BE53, cn=PRABODH KUMAR Date: 2025.11.06 18:06:35 +05'30' 2025:UHC:9796