ORDER : This batch of writ petitions are filed impugning the similar, but separate, orders of the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (for short, ‘Tribunal’) in applications in Application Nos.11680/2016, 11679/2016 and 11667/2016 directing the Karnataka Examination Authority (for short, ‘KEA’) to include the names of the Applicants in these applications before the Tribunal (for short, ‘Applicants’) in the Final Selection List for the notified Posts of Assistant Professors in the Government First Grade Colleges in the respective subjects with further direction to the First Respondent to issue appointment Orders to the Applicants in terms of the Final Selection List forwarded by the KEA; and if these directions are given effect to, the private Respondents before the Tribunal (for short, ‘private Respondents’) will be excluded from the selection to the subject posts. Therefore, KEA has filed three writ petitions in W.P.No.44242/2017, W.P.No.47462/2017 and W.P.No.49066/2017 impugning the separate orders dated 28.07.2017 in Application Nos.11679/2016, 11680/2016 and 11667/2016, while the respective private Respondents have filed W.P.No.41886/2017 and W.P.No.8686/2018 impugning the orders in Application No. 11680/2016 and 11667/2016. 2. The three applicants approached the Tribunal seeking, inter alia, for holding their non-inclusion in the Provisional Selection List dated 06.12.2016 in No.ED/KEA/ADMN/CR-55/2014-15 for the posts of Assistant Professors in respective subjects viz., ‘Social Work’, ‘History’ and ‘Commerce’ in the Government First Grade Colleges in the State of Karnataka as unconstitutional and for directions. KEA issued Notification dated 22.1.2015 inviting applications for filing up of 1298 posts of Assistant Professors in the Government First Grade Colleges in the State of Karnataka in different subjects and later issued another Notification dated 5.3.2015, in continuation of the earlier notification, extending the date for filing applications for these 1298 Posts and additional 862 Posts; and yet another Notification dated 16.7.2015 was issued, for the reasons stated in the notification, revising the post wise allotment list and extending the notified timelines for making online applications and payment of fee. 3. 3. After the conduct of the notified competitive examinations, KEA published ‘Instructions for Document Verification’ which are relevant for the purposes of the present lis are, “All relevant certificates should be obtained as on the last date fixed for receipt of application in the respective notification”, and “Caste Certificate/ Caste Income Certificate (For SC/ ST in Form D, Category – 1 in ‘Form –E’ and 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B in ‘Form-F’) (As per the Government Order dated 4.6.2015, the candidate and his/ her father’s – mother’s who’s Gross Annual Income is below Rs.6.00 lakhs are eligible to claim benefit of reservation under 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B categories. Further, the candidates who have married, the spouse income, if any, will also be considered for annual income)”. 4. The applicants were called upon to appear for verification of documents, and after the verification of documents furnished, the applicants were also included in the Provisional List published on 27.10.2016. However, each of the Applicants were served with individual Communications dated 21.11.2016 informing them that they, being married as on the date of the Notification and having respectively applied under Group 2B, 2A and 3B, had to submit respective Income and Caste Certificates (for short, ‘Certificates’) in ‘Form F’ issued under the provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Reservation of Appointments etc.,) Act, 1990 (for short, ‘Act’) and the Rules made thereunder (for short, ‘Rules’) indicating the income of the spouse and his family as required under the applicable Government Order, but the applicants had submitted false information in obtaining the Certificates in ‘Form F’ by giving income of their father without including the income of the spouse, resulting in their wrongful inclusion in the Provisional Selection List 27.10.2016; and further by these Communications, the applicants were called upon to submit a written explanation or a Certificate issued including the income of the spouse and his family as of the date specified therein, informing the Applicants that if they were not able to furnish necessary explanation or Certificate as required, they would not be entitled to the backward caste/rural reservation. 5. The applicants, in response to such communication, submitted their explanation along with the fresh Certificate/s in the prescribed and applicable Form. 5. The applicants, in response to such communication, submitted their explanation along with the fresh Certificate/s in the prescribed and applicable Form. However, in the meanwhile, the KEA published Revised Provisional Selection List on 6.12.2016 excluding the applicants, and in their place included the private respondents, and thus prompted the applicants to approach the Tribunal. The applicants canvassed before the Tribunal that KEA in any event could not have excluded them from the Revised Provisional List dated 6.12.2016 in view of the Certificate/s that were submitted by them in response to the Communication dated 21.11.2016, and the applicants, placing reliance upon the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ram Kumar Gijroya vs. Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and another, (2016) 4 SCC 754 , also contended that the Certificate which they submitted in response to the Communication dated 21.11.2016, though submitted after the cut-off date, should have been considered by KEA and its failure to consider such Certificate/s resulted in denial of equal opportunity as envisaged under the different provisions of the Constitution. 6. The private respondents and KEA did not dispute factual statements made by the applicants, however, relied upon the Government Order dated 28.12.1983 contending that the ‘family income’ of a married woman candidate should be the income of the woman and the spouse, or if a woman is living with the joint family of the spouse, the income of the woman and the income of such family, and therefore, in the case of a married woman, the income of the father cannot be considered; and asserted that the first certificate/s, which were furnished by the Applicants at the time of verification of the documents, showing the income of the parent could not have been accepted. The private respondents and KEA also contended that the first certificate/s submitted by the applicants not being acceptable, the later certificates, which were submitted in response to the Communication/s dated 21.11.2016, could not be accepted by KEA as it was specifically mentioned in the ‘Instructions for Document Verification’ that ‘all relevant certificates should be obtained as on the last date fixed for the receipt of application in the respective notifications’, and nor could the KEA consider the later certificates in view of the declaration of law by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Bedenga Talukdar vs. Saifudaullah Khan and others, AIR 2012 SC 1803 that there cannot be relaxation of any condition unless permissible under the rules and the advertisement. 7. The Tribunal by its interim order stayed the operation of the Revised Provisional List dated 6.12.2016 subject to the condition that the Applicants with their spouse shall file, on the next date scheduled for hearing, affidavits as regards their combined income. The Applicants filed the respective affidavits, and the Tribunal, by its separate, but similar orders, which are impugned in these writ petitions, allowed the applications with directions as first mentioned above taking note of the Affidavits filed before the Tribunal and the law as declared by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ram Kumar Gijroya vs. Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and another. 8. The counsel for KEA and the private respondents, reiterating the contentions urged before the Tribunal, contended that the Applicants, who had at the first instance submitted Certificate/s based on the income of their parents despite being married and without including the income of their spouse, could not have claimed any right for inclusion in the Revised Provisional Selection List; and that neither the later Certificate/s, which were obtained after the date stipulated by KEA nor the Affidavit before the Tribunal could have enured to the Applicants’ advantage as the Certificate/s were obtained after the date stipulated, though KEA had itself issued Communication/s dated 21.11.2016 calling upon the Applicants to either offer explanation about the income mentioned in the Certificate/s or to furnish the Certificate/s with the income of the spouse included and affidavit/s filed under no circumstances could have been accepted. 9. 9. The learned counsel for the KEA and the private respondents also placed strong reliance on the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Bedenga Talukdar v. Saifudullah Khan and others for the proposition that allowing the benefit of the Certificate obtained after the cut-off date, would amount to relaxation of the condition as regards the date stipulated for obtaining such Certificate and that such relaxation would be impermissible. They also placed reliance upon a decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Shankar K. Mandal and others vs State of Bihar, (2003) 9 SCC 519 and others, to emphasize that if a cut-off date is indicated either under the relevant Rules or advertisements calling for applications, such condition must be inviolable, and if no such cut-off date is specified either in the relevant Rules or the advertisement, then the last date notified for the receipt of the applications shall be the date beyond which no certificates can be received in the matter of eligibility criteria. 10. The learned counsel for the Applicants submitted that their claim for inclusion in the Revised Provisional Selection List was not based either on the later Certificate/s submitted in response to the Communication/s dated 21.11.2016 or the affidavit subsequently filed before the tribunal, but was on the basis of the Certificate/s submitted first for verification; and that given the provisions of the Act and the Rules, as well as the orders issued by the State Government in that regard, KEA could not have rejected the earlier Certificate/s, which are issued in the prescribed ‘Form - F’ and excluded the applicants from the Revised Provisional Selection List, and they also contended that the only recourse open to KEA, even if KEA could state that such Certificate/s in ‘Form – F’ were obtained on false information, was to include the applicants in the selection list and forward the same to the appointing authority, who, in law, are obliged to obtain the validation of such certificates as per the terms of the Act and the Rules and the applicable Government Order issued in this regard. 11. 11. In the facts and circumstances as culled out, and the rival submissions made, the questions that arise for consideration in these petitions are : (a) Whether KEA, while finalizing the Selection List, can decide on the validity of the Caste and Income and Caste Certificates issued by the competent authorities in the prescribed Form under the provisions of the Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Act, 1990 and the Rules made thereunder? and, (b) Whether appointments can be made by an Appointing Authority without Validity Certificates issued by the competent authorities in the prescribed Form under the provisions of the Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Act, 1990 and the Rules made thereunder? 12. The answer to these questions will have to be discerned from the Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Act, 1990, the Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Rules, 1992 and the Government Order dated 12.02.1993 in No. SWL 247 SAD 90; and except this Government Order dated 12.02.1993 (for short, G.O dated 12.2.1993), no other order is relied upon or placed before this Court for consideration. 13. The Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Act, 1990 [This Act is brought into force from 1.6.1992 after the Governor’s assent on 4.3.1991] - (for short, ‘Act’), as it stood, on it being brought into force, enabled inter alia for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of the Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes in the Sate Civil Services and establishments in the Public Sector and in admission to Universities and to the Education Institutions established or maintained or aided by the State Government, but later, the Government of Karnataka, issued G.O dated 12.2.1993, according approval for the constitution of Caste Verification Committee and Caste and Income Verification Committee and laid down the procedure, amongst others, for seeking Validity Certificate. Section 12 of the Act enables the Government to take such steps or to issue such order, as are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act, as the State may consider necessary for removal of difficulties in giving effect to the provisions of the Act and G.O dated 12.02.1993 is issued in the exercise of this power. 14. Section 12 of the Act enables the Government to take such steps or to issue such order, as are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act, as the State may consider necessary for removal of difficulties in giving effect to the provisions of the Act and G.O dated 12.02.1993 is issued in the exercise of this power. 14. The G.O. dated 12.2.1993 insofar as the Recruitment stipulated that the benefit of reservation either for SC/ST or other Backward Classes cannot be extended without a Validity Certificate issued by the specified Caste Verification Committee or the Caste and Income Verification Committee. The stipulation in this regard in the G.O.dated 12.2.1993 read as follows : “No candidate seeking the benefit of reservation as an Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe or a Backward Class shall be appointed by any of the Departments of the State Government including appointment to State Civil Services and Establishments in Public Sector etc., without a Validity Certificate issued by the Caste Verification Committee of the Social Welfare Department in respect of Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes and by the Caste and Income Verification Committee of the Directorate of Backward Classes and Minorities in respect of candidates belonging to Backward Classes. The procedure to be followed shall be as follows : Any Selection/ Recruiting and appointing authority shall first prepare a provisional select list on the basis of the criteria laid down for selection. The provisional select list shall be made public calling for objections. After the time limit fixed for filling objections, the final select list shall be taken up for finalization by the Selection/Recruitment Committee. In the interim period, the Selection/Recruiting authority shall send the select list to the Directors of Social Welfare and Backward Classes and Minorities Department for verification of the claims of the candidates seeking reservation benefit and issue of validity certificate. The Caste Verification Committee & Caste & Income Verification Committee shall verify the claims of the candidates in the select list and issue validity certificates to the candidates concerned. After the validity Certificates are issued, the final select list is prepared and the list will be forwarded to the appointing authority. No candidate shall be eligible for appointment under the reserved quota, without the validity certificate” 15. After the validity Certificates are issued, the final select list is prepared and the list will be forwarded to the appointing authority. No candidate shall be eligible for appointment under the reserved quota, without the validity certificate” 15. Subsequently, the Karnataka Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Rules, 1992 [The Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Rules, 1992 are notified vide Notification dated 22.02.1993] - for short, “Rules” - was notified, and thereafter there are amendments to the Act [ The Act has been amended vide Act No. 27 of 1997 w.e.f. 3 8.2.2000, Act No. 8 of 2004 w.e.f 23.2.2004 and Act No. 7 of 2012 w.e.f 22.6.2012 ] and Rules [ The Rules has been amended vide Notification dated 11.11.1993 w.e.f. 11.11.1993, Notification dated 8.2.2000 w.e.f. 8.2.2000, Notification dated 22.1.2001 w.e.f. 1.2.2001 ] with multiple Insertions and substitutions. The amendments to the Act and Rules, amongst others, provide for the following : Under the Act: - Issuance of Caste Certificate or Income and Caste Certificate under Section 4-A: The Tahsildar after receiving an application in the prescribed Form and following the prescribed procedure for an enquiry and satisfying himself about the genuineness of the claim for reservation may make orders issuing Caste Certificate to persons from Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Backwards Classes - Category I or Income and Caste Certificate for other Backwards Classes as the case may be, - Section 4-B: The Assistant Commissioner on an appeal by any person aggrieved by orders of the Tahsildar under Section 4 – A may make orders issuing Caste Certificate to persons from Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Backwards Classes - Category I and Income and Caste Certificate for other Backwards Classes after giving both the parties an opportunity of being heard; Notification dated 11.3.2002 w.e.f 15.3.2002, Notification dated 8.7.2009 w.e.f 13.8.2009 and Notification dated 17.2.2012 - Section 4-C: Verification of the Caste Certificates and Income and Caste Certificates issued under Section 4-A or Section 4-B and issuance of Validity Certificate by the District Verification Committes on an application in the prescribed Form by i. Any person who has obtained a Caste Certificate or an Income and Caste Certificate, or ii. the Appointing Authority, or iii. any Authority making admissions to a course of study in the University or any Educational Institution. the Appointing Authority, or iii. any Authority making admissions to a course of study in the University or any Educational Institution. It must be emphasised that the Selecting Authority is not included in the list of persons who can make an application for Verification of the Caste Certificate or an Income and Caste Certificate. Under the Rules - Rule 3A: This Rules prescribes that every application for Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate should be in Form A, Form B or Form C, and as per the Appended Forms, Form A: Is for Caste Certificate in cases of persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Form B: Is for Caste Certificate in cases of persons belonging to Backward Classes Category - I Form C: Is for an Application for Income and Caste Certificate - Rule 3 B: This Rule provides that the Assistant Commissioner in an Appeal from the Orders of the Tahsildar may issue necessary orders after hearing both the Parties and holding Enquiry - Rules 4 and 5: These Rules provide for constitution of Caste Verification Committees and Income and Caste Verification Committees - Rule 6: These Rules provide for submission of Application in Form – I to these Committees for issuance of Validity Certificates - Rule 6-A: This Rule provides for Reference by these Committees of the Applications to the prescribed Authority to verify and report after holding enquiries - Rule 7: This Rule provides for issuance of Validity Certificate in Form – 1A after issuance of the Report under Rule 6-A and after examination of the records and examining persons as mentioned in Rule 7(2) 16. The scheme under the Act and Rules as now available contemplates issuance of Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate by the Tahsildar and its verification and validation by issuance of Validity Certificate of the Caste Certificate by the Caste Verification Committee and the Income and Caste Certificate by the Income and Caste Verification Committee. The scheme under the Act and Rules as now available contemplates issuance of Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate by the Tahsildar and its verification and validation by issuance of Validity Certificate of the Caste Certificate by the Caste Verification Committee and the Income and Caste Certificate by the Income and Caste Verification Committee. The Act and Rules elaborate in detail who should make applications for issuance and verification of Caste Certificate or Income and Caste Certificate, to whom such applications are to be made, the details to be furnished in the applications in the prescribed Forms (i.e. in Form A or Form B or Form C for Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate and Form No. 1 for the Validity Certificate for the Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate), how such applications will have to be considered and that the issuance of Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate in the prescribed Forms (‘Form D’ or ‘Form E’ or ‘Form F’) and Validity Certificate for Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate in Form No.1A. 17. The Act (Section 4-B) prescribes that the Assistant Commissioner of the concerned Revenue Sub Division, as the Appellate Authority, has to decide on the claim for the Caste Certificate or the Income and Caste Certificate, as the case may be, as per the procedure prescribed under Rule 3-B of the Rules. Further, review is also provided under Section 4-F of the Act against the orders of the Tahsildar under Section 4-A and the order in Appeal by the concerned Assistant Commissioner under Section 4-B. Further, an appeal against the Orders of the Caste Verification Committee and Income and Cast Verification Committee is also provided for under Section 4-D of the Act to the Authorities as mentioned therein. 18. Therefore, if the Caste Certificate/s and Income and Caste Certificate/s are issued in the prescribed form by the competent Authority, it is only the Authority under the Act which can adjudicate upon such certificate, and that too in the manner provided under the Act and Rules. Therefore, KEA, a Selecting Authority, could not have taken upon itself the jurisdiction to decide upon the validity of the Income and Caste Certificate that is issued in the Prescribed Form by the competent Authority and make a short shrift of the statutory mechanism. 19. Therefore, KEA, a Selecting Authority, could not have taken upon itself the jurisdiction to decide upon the validity of the Income and Caste Certificate that is issued in the Prescribed Form by the competent Authority and make a short shrift of the statutory mechanism. 19. The validation of the Caste Certificate and the Income and Caste Certificate, as the case may be, is because Section 4-C(1) of the Act read with Rule 9 of the Rules. While Section 4-C(1) contemplates constitution of Committee/s for verification of the Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate, Rule 9 of the Rules mandates that no person who claims the benefit of reservation shall be appointed to a service or to a post under the Government with an Establishment in public sector without production of a validity certificate. Thus, in terms of the Act and Rules what is inevitable is that every candidate seeking reservation in appointments to a service or post with the Government or Establishment in Public Sector, should initially obtain a Caste Certificate or the Income and Caste Certificate, and the same should be verified and validated with issuance of the Validity Certificate; and the terms of the Act and Rules, which are detailed and elaborate, do not brook jurisdiction in a Selecting Authority or the Appointing Authority to decide on the validity of a Caste Certificate and an Income and Caste Certificate. 20. Therefore, the question that arises now is at what stage should the Validity Certificate be obtained and by whom. The Validity Certificate, as stated in Section 4-C(2) of the Act, can be issued only at the instance of a person who has obtained a Caste Certificate/ Income and Caste Certificate, or any Appointing Authority or an Authority making admission to a course of study in the university or educational institution. However, the stage at which the Validity Certificate will have to be ascertained from the provisions of the Act and Rules, more specifically Section 4-C of the Act and Rule 9 of the Rules. 21. The G.O. dated 12.2.1993 stated that a Selection/Recruiting Authority in the interregnum between publishing of the Provisional Select List and the finalisation of the Final Select List, shall send the selection list to the then prescribed competent authority who had to verify the claims made by the candidates and issue Validity Certificates. 21. The G.O. dated 12.2.1993 stated that a Selection/Recruiting Authority in the interregnum between publishing of the Provisional Select List and the finalisation of the Final Select List, shall send the selection list to the then prescribed competent authority who had to verify the claims made by the candidates and issue Validity Certificates. But, Rule 4-C enables only the Appointing Authority (or the admitting Authority in the matter of admissions to educational Institutions) as against the Selecting/ Recruiting Authority, to initiate the process for verification by the concerned Verification Committee. As such it cannot be held that the Selecting/ Recruiting Authority could initiate the said process. 22. If this be so, it would also inevitably be that until the finalization of the selection list, which is an exercise to be completed by the Selecting/Recruiting authority, the process for verification of Caste Certificate and Income and Caste Certificate and issuance of Validity Certificate thereof also cannot be initiated until the selection list is finalized by the Selecting/Recruiting authority. This is also because Rule 9 of the Rules prescribes embargo only as against appointment of persons claiming benefit of reservation without a Validity Certificate, and If the embargo had to be at any stage before the issuance of the Appointment, it would have been so specified in Rule 9 of the Rules. 23. For the foregoing reasons, the questions that are formulated for consideration are answered declaring that the KEA cannot decide on the validity of the Income and Caste Certificate, or exclude the Applicants from the Revised Provisional List, and that the appointing authority shall issue appointment orders only after the requisite Validity Certificates are issued by the competent authorities under the Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Act, 1990 and the Karnataka Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes and Other Backwards Classes (Reservation of appointments etc.,) Rules, 1992. 24. Therefore, the direction issued by the Tribunal to the Karnataka Examination Authority to include the name of the Applicants at appropriate places in the Provisional Lists dated 06.12.2016 for the posts of the Assistant Professors in the Government First Grade Colleges in the State of Karnataka in the respective subjects of ‘Social Work’, ‘History’ and ‘Commerce’ and forward the same to the Principal Secretary, Education Department (Higher Education) does not call for any interference by this Court. However, the direction to the Principal Secretary, Education Department (Higher Education) to appoint the Applicants as per this final Selection List is modified to read that the Principal Secretary, Education Department (Higher Education) can, subject to all exceptions permissible in law, issue appointment orders to the Applicants for the posts of Assistant Professors in the Government First Grade Colleges in the state of Karnataka in the respective subjects of ‘Social Work’, ‘History’ and ‘Commerce’ only upon the Validity Certificate issued by the prescribed competent authorities. Further, it is clarified that the finding of the Tribunal that the applicants belong to OBC category is only a prima facie finding based on the Certificate issued by the Tahsildar, and whether the applicants indeed belong to OBC category is a matter to be gone into by the prescribed competent authority while issuing the Validity Certificates. 25. Accordingly, the Petitions are disposed of. No costs.