Orissa High Court: A Division Bench of Mohammad Rafiq, CJ and Debabrata Dash, J. rejected the prayer of the petitioner on account of concealment of material facts.
The facts of the case are that the petitioner after completing her MBBS got herself registered under the Odisha Council of Medical Registration, Bhubaneshwar and joined as a tutor on contract basis at PHC (N) Biridi from 2014-2015 and joined as a tutor on contract basis in SLNMCH, Koraput from 2017- 2019 and later she joined in regular service in 2019 at Gumma Gajpati where she got transferred again to SLNMCH, Koraput. Thereafter the petitioner availed leave for September 2019 to January 2020 and resumed duty on 21-01-2020.
Counsel P. R Singh , L.N Rayatsingh, A.K Rout and S. K Dwivedy on behalf of the petitioners submitted that the petitioner applied for NEET PG 2020 as an in service candidate and was declared successful and as she is an in service candidate she deserves to get all the benefits with regards to extra weightage, percentage increase benefit etc. It was further submitted that as she verified her documents on time but was not able to present her service certificate on time due to lockdown she could not avail the benefits. It was prayed that she be allowed to appear for second round of counseling as an in service candidate only.
Counsel M.S Sahoo and R.C. Mohanty on behalf of the respondents stated that the petitioner applied for the course as a direct candidate and not as an in service candidate. He also submitted that the petitioner has concealed material facts in order to gain in service benefits which are bad in the eyes of law.
Court on hearing both the parties held that as the petitioner appeared for counseling in the first phase as a direct candidate the prayer to allow her to appear as an in service candidate for second round of counseling stands unjustified. It was further held that as the petitioner has not approached the court with clean hands which is the underlying principle for fair adjudication; the petitioner is not entitled to avail any kind of in service candidate benefits.
In view of the above the petition stands disposed off.[Dr Shams Jahan v State of Odisha, 2020 SCC OnLine Ori 543 , decided on 24-07-2020]
