Patna High Court
Arun Kumar RoyversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- ALLOWED
- Bench
- HARISH KUMAR
Holding
A trivial, non‑material error in the gender field of an online application does not invalidate the candidate’s eligibility, and the authorities must rectify the appointment and issue a revised joining letter.
Summary
Arun Kumar Roy applied for a school teacher post through the Bihar Public Service Commission’s online application but mistakenly entered his gender as female instead of male. Despite the error, he qualified, cleared the examination, and was issued provisional and joining letters that incorrectly listed his category as Female‑Unreserved. He repeatedly sought correction from the Commission without response and was denied joining on the basis of the gender error. The petitioner argued that the mistake was trivial, did not affect eligibility, and that denying his appointment violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The Court, relying on Supreme Court precedent that a trivial error in an application does not invalidate selection, held that the error was non‑material and ordered the authorities to issue a revised joining letter. Consequently, the writ petition was allowed, directing the District Education Officer to rectify the appointment within four weeks.
Issues considered
- Whether an inadvertent, trivial gender error in an online application can be a ground to deny appointment to a teacher post.
- Whether the authorities are constitutionally bound under Articles 14 and 16 to rectify the appointment despite the error.
- Whether a writ of mandamus can be issued to compel the revision of the appointment and joining letters.
- Whether the stipulation in the advertisement prohibiting post‑submission corrections can be overridden in view of the applicant’s eligibility.
Subjects
- gender error
- online application
- teacher recruitment
- Article 14
- Article 16
- mandamus
- Bihar Public Service Commission
- EBC reservation
- trivial error
- administrative law
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.13232 of 2025
======================================================
Arun Kumar Roy Son of Lalan Roy, Resident of Village- Basaul, P.O. Balha,
P.S. Kusheshwar Asthan, District- Darbhanga, Bihar, Pin Code- 848209.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar through Additional Chief Secretary, Education
Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.
2. The Additional Chief Secretary, Education Department, Govt. of Bihar,
Patna.
3. The Secretary, Bihar Public Service Commission, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.
4. The Director, Higher Education, Education Department, Govt. of Bihar,
Patna.
5. The District Education Officer, Darbhanga, Bihar.
6. The Principal, Uchcha Madhyamik Vidyalaya Arai Birdipur, Prakhand-
Singhwara, District- Darbhanga, Bihar.
7. Shanidev Kumar Mandal (Roll No. 703293), through Bihar Public Service
Commission, 15, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Bailey Road, Patna-800001.
... ... Respondent/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ashish Giri, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Pratik Raj, Adv.
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Ravi Kumar, AC to GP-13
Mr. Akshay Lal Prasad, AC to GP-13
For the BPSC : Mr. Rajni Kant Singh, Adv.
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH KUMAR
ORAL JUDGMENT
Date : 03-02-2026
Heard Mr. Ashish Giri, learned Senior Advocate
through the virtual mode representing the petitioner alongwith
Mr. Prateek Raj, learned Advocate. The State is represented
through Mr. Ravi Kumar, learned Advocate, whereas Mr. Rajni
Kant Singh, learned Advocate appears on behalf of the Bihar
Public Service Commission.
2. The grievance of the petitioner is confined to the
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extent that on account of an inadvertent mistake at the time of
submission of the application, for appointment to the post of
Teacher, instead of giving gender male, it has been mistakenly
mentioned as gender female and since there was no provision
for editing the on-line application, the same stands continued
even till issuance of the appointment letter to the petitioner and
only due to such reason the petitioner has not been allowed to
join. In the aforesaid premise, the petitioner has invoked the
jurisdiction of this Court for the following reliefs:-
“i) To issue a writ/order/direction
in the nature of mandamus
directing the Respondent
Authorities to revise the earlier
joining letter of petitioner for
School Teacher (11-12th) issued to
him vide Letter No. DAR/ADV-
22/2024/SPL/GT(11-12)/9480435
by District Education Officer,
District- Darbhanga, dated
10.05.2025 under Bihar Public
Service Commission's Teacher
Recruitment Examination 3.0
("TRE 3.0") vide Advertisement
No. 22/2024 dated 07.02.2024 by
treating the petitioner under Male-
EBC category instead of Female-
Unreserved and thereafter
immediately allow petitioner to
discharge his services in the
school he is entitled to. (Annexure-
P14..Pg129..).
ii) To issue a
writ/order/direction in the nature
of mandamus directing the
Patna High Court CWJC No.13232 of 2025 dt.03-02-2026
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Respondent Authorities to revise
the earlier Provisional
Appointment Letter of the
petitioner for School Teacher (11-
12th) issued by District Education
Officer, District- Darbhanga vide
Letter No. DAR/ADV-
22/2024/PAL/(11- 12)/6536029
dated 09.03.2025 under Bihar
Public Service Commission's
Teacher Recruitment Examination
3.0 (TRE 3.0) vide Advertisement
No. 22/2024 dated 07.02.2024 by
treating the petitioner under Male-
EBC category instead of wrongly
mentioned Female-Unreserved
category.
iii) To pass ex-parte/ad-
interim relief during the the
respondent authorities from filling
pendency of this writ application
restraining complete vacancy
under BPSC TRE 3.0 issued vide
Advertisement No. 22/2024 dated
07.02.2024 and keeping one seat
vacant for petitioner in view of
petitioner's rightful cause of
action.
iv) To hold and declare
that the Respondent Authorities
are duty bound to complete the
process of joining of Petitioner as
School Teacher under BPSC TRE
3.0 Examination.
v) To any other relief or
reliefs for which the petitioner is
found to be entitled in the facts
and circumstances of the case.”
3. Briefly stated, the petitioner having possessed
requisite qualification applied for appointment to the post of
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school teacher in terms with captioned Advertisement No.
22/2024 and appeared in Bihar Public Service Commission’s
Teacher Recruitment Examination 3.0 (TRE 3.0). However at
the time of submission of application through online, due to
inadvertent error, the petitioner in the gender column had
mistakenly entered as female instead of male. There was no
issue regarding other information, besides the caste to which the
petitioner belonged i.e. Extremely Backward Class and it was
rightly submitted by the petitioner in the online application.
Alongwith the application form, the petitioner has also
submitted the Aadhaar Card and other necessary documents,
which clearly suggest that the petitioner is a male. However,
having come to know about the inadvertent error in the gender,
he immediately filed a representation before the Bihar Public
Service Commission on 27.02.2024, requesting therein to
amend the error made regarding selection of gender.
4. Having found no response, the petitioner also filed
a follow-up representation, yet again, no response has been
made. In the meanwhile, the admit card of the petitioner was
issued and thus, the petitioner was of the opinion that his
candidature has been accepted as a male and accordingly, he
appeared in the examination and finally declared as successful.
Patna High Court CWJC No.13232 of 2025 dt.03-02-2026
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The name of the petitioner finds at serial no. 441, however,
again in the merit list the gender of the petitioner was shown as
female, instead of male. The petitioner immediately filed
another representation for making necessary correction, but to
no avail. Thereupon, the petitioner was called for document
verification on 04.02.2025 with all the requisite documents in
original. Upon verification of Aadhaar Card as well as Pan Card
and other documents, the certificate of successful completion of
document verification was issued, the same is also marked as
Annexure P/12. The appointing authorities on being duly
satisfied, issued a provisional appointment letter bearing no.
6536029 dated 09.03.2025(Annexure P/13). But this time again
the category of the petitioner has been mentioned as female
category falling under General (Unreserved). In pursuance of
the appointment letter the consequent joining letter was also
issued bearing no. 9480435 dated 10.05.2025 (Annexure P/14).
However, when the petitioner reached to the concerned school
and submitted his joining, the same was not accepted on the
ground of the error in the allotted category.
5. Learned Senior Advocate adverting to the aforesaid
facts contended that in fact, after having been declared
successful in the TRE-3 examination, the petitioner tendered his
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resignation from the post of Exclusive Teacher and the same
was duly accepted by the Principal of the said school, which
was necessary for submission of the joining against the post of
School Teacher (11-12th). The action of the respondents in not
accepting of the joining of the petitioner based on an inadvertant
error even after duly qualifying the examination is not only
arbitrary, perverse and illegal but violative of Article 14 and 16
of the Constitution of India. The mistake which has been
occurred at the time of filling up the online application, does not
go to the root of the eligibility of the candidature of the
petitioner. To bolster the submission, heavy reliance has been
placed on a decision rendered by the Apex Court in the case of
Vashist Narayan Kumar vs. State of Bihar & Ors. reported in
2024 Live Law SC 1. Referring thereto, it is submitted that if
error in any of the application is trivial which did not play any
part in the selection process, the State was not justified in
making a mountain out of this mole hill. The petitioner should
not be penalized for his insignificant error which made no
difference to the ultimate result; all the more, in a case where
petitioner has successfully passed the examination and chased
the cut-off marks.
6. Learned Senior Advocate further contended that
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admittedly the petitioner has been awarded 75 marks and the
cut-off marks for EBC was only 68; nonetheless the petitioner
was denied from joining service as School Teacher on the
ground that his appointment/joining letter mentioned his
category as “Female-UR” category instead of “Male EBC”
category.
7. On the other hand, learned Advocate for the
Commission refuting the afore-noted contention submitted that
admittedly the petitioner while submitting online application has
entered as female instead of male in the gender column and
since there is no provision for editing the online application
form, as is also evident from Note – (ii) of Para 9 of the
Advertisement, the Commission has acted as per the rules and
regulations formulated by the State Government. Now the
selection process has already been completed, strictly adhering
to the terms and condition of the advertisement no. 22/2024 in a
fair and transparent manner, thus no rectification can be made.
Referring to the averments made in the counter affidavit, he thus
prays for dismissal of the writ petition.
8. This Court has heard the learned Senior
Advocate/Advocates for the respective parties and also perused
the materials available on record. The facts are not in dispute
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that the petitioner has successfully cleared the examination and
secured more marks than the last cut-off score secured by the
male-EBC candidates. The materials available on record clearly
suggest that at the time of document verification, the petitioner
has submitted Aadhaar/Pan Card, besides all the academic
documents regarding his qualification and all of them have been
found to be correct, based upon which the provisional
appointment letter as well as joining letter have been issued. At
the time of verification of certificates no objection, either
regarding category or gender has been raised; rather the
authorities on being satisfied issued the provisional appointment
and joining letter. The error which has occurred on the part of
the petitioner at the time of filling up the online application,
cannot be in any manner said to be a move to get any undue
benefit. Prima facie, it appears to be an inadvertent mistake
which should be rectified. Since there was no provision for
editing in the online application form, the petitioner has
immediately filed representation as well as reminders at all the
stages for correction of the error, but the same could not be
done, as there was a clear stipulation in the advertisement,
specially in Note – (ii) of Para 9.
9. In the afore mentioned premise, it would be
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pertinent to take note of the decision rendered in the case of
Vashist Narayan Kumar (supra). The Hon’ble Supreme Court,
while considering a case where a student has mistakenly given
an incorrect date of birth and was thereby resultantly ousted
from the zone of consideration, the Court held that it is a trivial
error in an application which plays no part in the selection
process and taking into account the facts and circumstances of
the case, allowed the appeal. It would be apt and proper to
encapsulate paragraph no. 19 of the decision of the Vashist
Narayan Kumar (supra) which reads as follows:-
“19. In this case, the appellant has
participated in the selection
process and cleared all the stages
successfully. The error in the
application is trivial which did not
play any part in the selection
process. The State was not
justified in making a mountain out
of this molehill. Perhaps the
rarefied atmosphere of the
cybercafe, got the better of the
appellant. He omitted to notice the
error and even failed to avail the
corrective mechanism offered. In
the instant case, we cannot turn a
Nelson's eye to the ground
realities that existed. In the order
dated 22-11-2021 in Prince Jaibir
Singh v. Union of India [Prince
Jaibir Singh v. Union of India,
(2024) 11 SCC 793] , this Court
rightly observed that though
technology is a great enabler,
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there is at the same time, a digital
divide.”
10. Undisputedly, there was an inadvertent mistake at
the time of filing of the online application and the gender of the
petitioner has been mistakenly mentioned as female instead of
male and for rectification of which the petitioner has filed
several representation and approached before all the authorities
concerned, but the same could not be done because of the
stipulations made in the advertisement, however this fact cannot
be ignored, the petitioner has been allowed to appear in the
examination and he successfully passed; had the candidature of
the petitioner not been valid, he should not have been allowed to
appear in the examination. Once the petitioner was allowed to
appear in the examination where he successfully passed and
secured much above the cut-off marks under the Male-EBC
category and consequent whereupon the appointment letter as
well as joining letter has also been issued, the joining of the
petitioner cannot be denied on account of such trivial mistake as
occurred at the time of submission of the application form.
11. In view thereof, this Court finds substance in the
present writ petition, accordingly the same stands allowed.
12. The District Education Officer, Darbhanga, Bihar
is directed to look into the matter and issue a revised joining
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letter of the petitioner for School Teacher (11-12 th) in terms
with his merit position under appropriate category in an
appropriate school preferably within a period of four weeks’
from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order.
13. The writ petition stands allowed.
(Harish Kumar, J)
supratim/-
AFR/NAFR NAFR
CAV DATE NA
Uploading Date 09.02.2026
Transmission Date NA
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