Candidature liable to be rejected if one fails to sign application form

The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that the candidature of a person for any job is liable to be rejected even if he/she fails to sign the application form. The ruling came from justice Sabina while dismissing a petition filed by Gurpal Singh who had applied for the post of junior engineer (electrical) in Punjab State Electricity Board in 2009.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that the candidature of a person for any job is liable to be rejected even if he/she fails to sign the application form.

The ruling came from justice Sabina while dismissing a petition filed by Gurpal Singh who had applied for the post of junior engineer (electrical) in Punjab State Electricity Board in 2009. The petitioner had approached the high court seeking directions to the board to consider his candidature for the interview after he had successfully appeared in the written exam. However, the board had argued that the petitioner had submitted an incomplete application form without endorsing his signatures.

“It appears that due to inadvertence, the petitioner was called for the written exam. However, the candidature of the petitioner was liable to be cancelled as he had failed to sign the declaration provided in the application form. It was necessary for the petitioner to have signed the declaration as the same was very relevant,” said justice Sabina.

The court even observed that though the petitioner had signed page No. 1 of the application form, he had failed to sign the necessary declaration.

Justice Sabina said a perusal of the application form revealed the petitioner had failed to sign the declaration to the effect that all submissions made in the application were true and correct on the basis of his knowledge and belief and he understood that in the event of any information being found false or incorrect or not satisfying the prescribed eligibility criteria for the post applied for, his candidature was liable to be cancelled at any stage of selection.

The board had advertised 225 posts of junior engineers (electrical) in 2009 and the petitioner appeared in the written test.

But when he was called for counselling in March 2010 along with all documents, he was told that he was not eligible for the post.