Gujarat specific EWS certificate requires inhabitants settled in state on or before April 1, 1978: HC

Gujarat High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Rutbi Bhansali, who was declared ineligible by the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) for not possessing a Gujarat-specific Economically Weaker Section (EWS) certificate, upholding the validity of the state government’s residency criterion for the 10% EWS reservation.

A single-judge bench of the high court observed that the Gujarat government’s resolution dated January 25, 2019, clearly restricts the state’s EWS quota benefit to original inhabitants of Gujarat — defined as persons whose family was permanently settled in the state on or before April 1, 1978.

The petitioner, a resident of Surat, had cleared the preliminary examination for the 2023-24 recruitment cycle for Gujarat Administrative Service (Class-I), Gujarat Civil Service (Class-I & II), and Gujarat Municipal Chief Officer Service (Class-II). However, GPSC declared her ineligible for the main examination because she submitted an EWS certificate issued under the Central Government’s resolution dated February 11, 2019, instead of the Gujarat-specific certificate mandated in the advertisement.

The court noted that the petitioner, in a letter dated July 7 addressed to the GPSC Chairman, had herself admitted that she was aware she could not obtain Gujarat's EWS certificate due to lack of required documents proving pre-1978 residency of her family. Despite this knowledge, she consciously chose to apply using the central government certificate.

“If such a practice is encouraged by allowing the petition, it would not only set a wrong precedent but also encourage candidates to apply on the basis of whatever documents they possess and thereafter approach the court,” the bench remarked, terming the application not valid.

The petitioner had also sought an alternative relief to be considered under the general (unreserved) category. The court rejected this plea as well, pointing out that Clause 17(10) of the advertisement clearly states that preliminary examination marks are only for screening purposes and are not counted in the final merit list. Since the petitioner had applied under the EWS category and not as a general candidate, no such conversion was permissible at a later stage.