Today, Gujarat High Court rejects a woman's petition seeking relaxation in the age criteria for the post of Gujarati Stenographer.

The single-headed bench of Justice J C Doshi said - "Since in the present case, the petitioner failed to establish that she is possessing the prescribed age limit on the date of the advertisement or is there any relaxation rule which permit her to participate in the selection process and further to participate in the examination, the petitioner cannot enforce such kind of relief by way of this petition," 

In the said matter, last year in July, Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board issued an advertisement announcing the recruitment, with a cutoff age of 40 years as of 30.06.2022.

However, the petitioner argued that being a female candidate, she should have been given a relaxation of five years, as per the rules, allowing her to apply until the age of 45 years.

The last time the exam was conducted back in 2015, from 2015, till the recruitment process began in 2022, the petitioner had already crossed the eligibility criteria.

Further, the petitioner submitted that in view of the relaxation given by the Government for 1 year due to COVID-19, the petitioner could have applied till the age of 46 years, however, the petitioner crossed the age of 46 years and she was older only 8 months as on date of the advertisement for the recruitment of the Gujarati Stenographer.

AGP Hetal Shah, counsel for Board opposed the petition. She submitted that the recruitment process for the post of Gujarati Stenographer is conducted in accordance with the Gujarat Civil Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1967.

During an argument, she pointed out that in view of Rule 8(2)(b), the relaxation clause permits that if the prescribed age limit exceeds 40 years the age limit may be relaxed to the extent of maximum of 5 years so as to provide an upper age limit for entry in services, but it should not exceed 45 years.

The court observed that the petitioner had indeed crossed the age limit of 46 years on June 16, 2022, as she was born on October 28, 1975. The court highlighted that the maximum relaxation allowed, which is five years, was already specified in the recruitment advertisement, with no further relaxation clause.

"The right is guaranteed only if the candidate fulfills the requisite eligibility criteria stated in the above Rules on the stipulated date. It is also an admitted position that the proposition of the eligibility of any candidate is to be reckoned from the date of the advertisement for the post or as per the permission of the Rules and not by any other condition. Lacking of eligibility cannot permit the petitioner to expect that she may be permitted to enter into the selection process and further may be permitted to sit in the examination or apply for the examination," said the court.

Case Title: Anuradha Vikramsinh Rajput Versus Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board (Gaun Seva Pasandgi Mandal) R/Special Civil Application No. 11819 Of 2022