PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to issue an appointment letter to a Junior Engineer (Civil) candidate after her OBC status was formally validated.
The department has also been ordered that she be granted the same appointment date and all consequential benefits as other selected candidates.
The Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar was hearing a writ petition filed by Ankita Sandeep Hadfadkar, whose appointment was kept pending for caste verification despite her selection to one of nine OBC-reserved posts.
Recording the sequence of events, the Court noted that other candidates were given the appointment letters appointing them with effect from January 31, 2024 and the petitioner’s appointment was kept pending awaiting the caste verification.
The Bench observed that the Scrutiny Committee has since completed the verification process and upheld the petitioner’s claim. “The Scrutiny Committee has now completed the process of caste verification and by its Judgment and Order dated April 29, 2026, has confirmed that the Petitioner belongs to the Bhandari Naik community, which is recognised as OBC,” the order states.
It further recorded that the certificate submitted during recruitment was validated. “Accordingly, the OBC Certificate dated January 8, 2019 which was used by the Petitioner for the purpose of the recruitment process was declared verified and validated as a valid OBC (non-creamy layer) Certificate,” it added.
In view of this, the Court issued a clear direction to the authorities that she be issued an appointment letter to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) by the PWD, and also ensured parity with other candidates from the same recruitment cycle.
“Needless to state that the appointment letter shall be with effect from the same date as has been issued to the other candidates under the same recruitment process. All consequential benefits shall flow based upon the appointment from the date of the initial appointment, as granted to all other candidates under the same process,” reads the order.
