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2019 DIGILAW 1256 (RAJ)

Hemlata v. State of Rajasthan

2019-04-26

ARUN BHANSALI

body2019
JUDGMENT 1. This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner aggrieved against the order dated 28.02.2019 (Annex.-10), whereby, the candidature of the petitioner has been rejected. 2. It is inter alia claimed in the writ petition that the petitioner got married with one Sanjay Sharma, however, due to matrimonial dispute she started living separately and, whereafter, made an application under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (the Act, 1955) before the Family Court No. 1, Jodhpur. 3. An advertisement dated 31.07.2018 was issued by the respondents for recruitment to the post of Teacher Grade-III (Level-2). The petitioner applied for the said post in the category of OBC divorcee woman. The petitioner pursuant to the selection got her documents verified, however, during verification of the documents, her candidature was not considered by the respondent as the decree of divorce produced by the petitioner was after the last date of the application. 4. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the action of the respondents in rejecting the candidature of the petitioner is not justified inasmuch as the petitioner was living separately from her husband when she applied for the post and her application under Section 13B of the Act, 1955 was also pending, the decree of divorce was granted by the competent court on 03.10.2018 and, therefore, the rejection of petitioners candidature is not justified. 5. I have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner and have perused the material available on record. 6. Admittedly, the petitioner applied for the post pursuant to the advertisement on 31.07.2018 and claimed her status as divorcee and admittedly the decree of divorce has been granted by the Family Court, Jodhpur on 03.10.2018, wherein, it is specifically indicated that with immediate effect the marriage was being dissolved. 7. The provisions of Section 13B of the Act, 1955 provides as under: " 13B. Divorce by mutual consent. - (1)- . 7. The provisions of Section 13B of the Act, 1955 provides as under: " 13B. Divorce by mutual consent. - (1)- . (2)- On the motion of both the parties made not earlier than six months after the date of the presentation of the petition referred to in sub-section (1) and not later than eighteen months after the said date, if the petition is not withdrawn in the meantime, the court shall, on being satisfied, after hearing the parties and after making such inquiry as it thinks fit, that a marriage has been solemnised and that the averments in the petition are true, pass a decree of divorce declaring the marriage to be dissolved with effect from the date of the decree." 8. A bare look at the above provision reveals that it is only from the date of decree by the competent court that the marriage would dissolve between the parties and admittedly the said decree was passed by the court on 03.10.2018. The stipulation in the advertisement regarding availability of decree before the last date of filing of the application is quite clear, inasmuch as, the candidate to call herself a divorcee, the candidate must possess a decree from the competent court as otherwise she cannot claim herself as divorcee and therefore, as per the stipulation made in this regard, the petitioner was not eligible to apply as a divorcee. 9. Further, the submissions made that the petitioner was living separately is of no consequence as the requirement is of a candidate being divorced and not otherwise. In fact, on the last date of filling up the application, the petitioner was not a divorcee, as such, the application filled by the petitioner was based on misrepresentation of facts. 10. In view of the above discussion, the rejection of the petitioners candidature by the respondents cannot be faulted. 11. There is no substance in the writ petition and the same is, therefore dismissed.