Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh, May 28 -
The Haryana Government has expressed deep concern over the withdrawal of appointment letters from some candidates of Haryana who were selected by Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and offered appointment/joined their duties for the post of TGT of different subjects on ground of submission EWS certificate and requested to consider the EWS income and asset certificates issued by the competent authority during the period between January 1 and March 31, 2021, before or after the last date as valid and allow the respective candidates to continue/join back their duties.
In a letter penned by Haryana Chief Secretary TVSN Prasad to Delhi Chief Secretary, Secretary, Delhi Education Department, Secretary, Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board, Delhi and the Director, Directorate of Education, Delhi, it has also been requested to take similar decision for all other selected candidates of Haryana having similar EWS Certificates, where cases for cancellation of candidature/withdrawal of appointment letter are in pipeline in Directorate of Education or any other department of Delhi Government.
The Haryana Government has expressed deep concern about the withdrawal of appointment letters in many cases and the prospects thereof in some cases still under consideration of Directorate of Education, Delhi of meritorious youth of Haryana. The State Government clarified that the candidature of the candidates cannot be cancelled merely on any one or more of the grounds. These included submission of EWS certificate issued during the period between January 1 and March 31, 2021 for the income up to March 31, 2021, with validity for the year 2021-22, submission of EWS Certificate signed/issued by the Naib-Tehsildar instead of Tehsildar of the area where the applicant was residing and submission of EWS Certificate which was issued by the competent authority after the last date of submission of application for the post.
The letter clarified that the EWS certificates in Haryana are issued keeping in view the average fixed income and assets for the complete financial year, immediately upon an application being made to the competent authority, no matter what the date of application, whether or not before completion of the financial year. Therefore, the EWS certificates issued before the completion of the financial year 2020-21, that is during the period between January 1 and March 31, 2021, submitted by the candidates should be treated valid for the year 2021-22.
Regarding acceptance of EWS certificate issued by the Naib-Tehsildar instead of Tehsildar submitted by the applicants/candidates of Haryana it has been clarified that Haryana Government in the Schedule to Right to Service Act, 2014 has authorized both Tehsildar and Naib-Tehsildar to issue EWS Certificates to the persons residing in Haryana. In another case of similar nature, the State Government has decided to treat the EWS certificates issued by the Naib Tehsildar as true and genuine. In fact, such EWS certificates issued by the Naib-Tehsildar have also been accepted by UPSC/DOPT. In CWP 8502 of 2017 (O&M) it has been held by the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court that "The power and duties of Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar are of similar nature. The Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars have powers of Executive Magistrate to maintain law and order. Their powers and functions include maintenance and updating Revenue Record, Registration of documents and recovery of Government dues. Therefore, experience/service rendered as Naib Tehsildar and Tehsildars is similar.” In view of this, EWS certificates issued by Naib Tehsildar for candidates of Haryana should be treated as valid.
The State Government further clarified that Haryana Government launched income certificates generation via the portal https://saralharyana.gov.in during the year 2021-22 to issue offline certificates of all kinds including Caste Certificates/income Certificates/EWS Certificates etc. which were previously being issued by different relevant Departments. It has also been clarified that in the previous system it would have been possible for a candidate to obtain two different EWS Certificates verifying the income at two different levels by approaching the relevant Department with two different sets of affidavits at two different dates. With the launch of the said portal this possibility has been completely pre-empted. There is a unique Family ID for every family and the verified annual income of every family for every year is available in the State level database. The moment a candidate applies for EWS Certificate on the SARAL portal, it fetches the income and caste data from the said database. There is no scope for the competent authority, Tehsildar or Naib-Tehsildar, to make any change to the verified income of the previous year. Therefore, in this system, the candidate may generate his certificate in any of the months.
Many candidates who submitted the EWS certificate issued after the last date of submission of application might not have been aware of the newly launched portal by Haryana Government and consequently, they may not have been able to generate their own EWS Certificate in time. Therefore, the EWS certificates generated after the last date for the candidates should be accepted because they truly capture the actual verified income for the previous year. It has further added that no cut-off date need be fixed for the purpose of Caste Certificate of the candidates of reserved category because caste stays the same at all times. Similarly, the verified family income of the candidates residing in Haryana is available in the database on an annual basis at all times and remains unchanged for a particular period in the financial year. Therefore, the mere fact of submission of EWS Certificate which was issued after the cut-off date cannot legally be treated as valid ground for cancellation of candidature, the Chief Secretary letter added.
The letter further stated that if required, the Haryana Government can depute the Director General, Human Resources, Haryana to meet with the Director of Education or any other authority to work out the details of all the candidates of Haryana whose appointment may be in process of cancellation and provide any further detailed justification for each case wherever felt necessary by him.