ORDER : (Ganesh Ram Meena, J.) : 1. This writ petition was listed before the Court on 31.05.2024 for orders on an application filed by the respondents under Article 226(3) of the Constitution of India for vacation of the ex-parte order dated 30.06.2022. 2. Considering the issue raised in the writ petition and with the consent of the counsel appearing for the respective parties, the matter was heard for final disposal and the order was reserved. 3. The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayers:- “(i) By an appropriate rit, Order or Direction, the impugned Selection of the Respondent Suneel Kumar in the Selection List, issued on 25.05.2022 (Item No.6) under EWS Category of the post of Assistant Drug Analyst, is illegal, which may be set-aside by this Hon’ble Court. (ii) By appropriate Writ, Order of Direction, direct the Respondents to Select and Appoint the Petitioner on the post of Assistant Drug Analyst under the EWS Category. (iii) By appropriate Writ, Order of Direction, hold and declare that the Respondent Suneel Kumar is ineligible to be selected on the post of Assistant Drug Analyst, as per the Terms & Conditions of the Advertisement dated 10.01.2022 and the Information Book-Let, issued by the Respondents.” 4. The facts borne out from the pleadings are that the respondent No.2 -Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (for short ‘the RUHS’) issued an advertisement dated 10.01.2022 for inviting applications from the eligible candidates for recruitment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst. As per the advertisement, one vacancy out of total 11 vacancies was available for EWS category candidates. The last date for submitting the application forms was fixed as 02.02.2022 and Online examination was scheduled to be held on 10.02.2022. 5. The petitioner Chandra Prakash Bhardwaj as well as the respondent No.4- Suneel Kumar submitted their Online applications under the EWS Category. 6. After holding Online examination, the respondents issued the provisional result after scrutiny of the documents and as per the provisional result (Annex.3), the petitioner Chandra Prakash Bhardwaj secured 64 marks and the respondent No.4- Suneel Kumaar secured 65 marks. In the provisional result (Annex.3), the category of the petitioner Chandra Prakash Bhardwaj was mentioned as ‘EWS’ and the category of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was mentioned as ‘General’. In the provisional result (Annex.3), the category of the petitioner Chandra Prakash Bhardwaj was mentioned as ‘EWS’ and the category of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was mentioned as ‘General’. The respondents issued a revised provisional list of selected candidates on 25.05.2022 (Annex.4) wherein the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was declared selected under the EWS Category and the petitioner was placed at S.No.1 in the waiting list for EWS Category. 7. Aggrieved by the selection of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar for the post of Assistant Drug Analyst against the vacancy reserved for EWS Category, the petitioner has filed this writ petition. 8. Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that after verification of the documents, the respondents declared the result (Annex.3) wherein the result of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was declared under the General Category and the result of the petitioner Chandra Prakash Bhardwaj was declared under the EWS Category but later on in an arbitrary manner the respondents have declared selected the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar against the single vacancy of EWS Category and placed the petitioner in the waiting list. 9. Counsel also raised a dispute regarding the eligibility of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar saying that he is not having the requisite experience of Analyst of Drug in Laboratories under the Government as required under the terms and conditions of the advertisement and has not placed on record the experience certificate issued by the Authority as required in a prescribed format and issued under the signatures of the Government Analyst. Counsel also submitted that the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has secured PG Degree in Pharmacy in the year 2010 whereas during the period from 09.09.2009 to 30.04.2001, the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was under the employment with Regional College Pharmacy, Sitapura, Jaipur and in this manner the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has manipulated his Post Graduation Degree details. Counsel also submitted that the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar belongs to the EWS Category and initially his result was declared in the EWS Category. However, at a later stage in an illegal and arbitrary manner, the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has been declared selected in the EWS Category and denied the selection of the petitioner. 10. Counsel also submitted that the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar belongs to the EWS Category and initially his result was declared in the EWS Category. However, at a later stage in an illegal and arbitrary manner, the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has been declared selected in the EWS Category and denied the selection of the petitioner. 10. Counsel appearing for the respondent No.4- Suneel Kumar submitted a detailed reply and during the course of arguments stated that respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar belongs to EWS Category and he is having the certificates issued by the Competent Authority. Counsel also submitted that the petitioner has also submitted the certificate of experience of working as an Analyst of Drug in a Government Laboratory. Counsel also submitted that the experience certificate (Annex.R/4/9) has been issued in favour of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission which is also performing the works like as Laboratory and since this Commission is a part of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, it is held to be a Government Laboratory. 11. Counsel appearing for the respondent No.3- RUHS submitted that the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar submitted application form under the EWS Category and after verification of documents when the respondents declared the revised result, his category was mentioned as General. On reverification of the documents when it was found that the category of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has been wrongly mentioned as ‘General’ whereas he has applied under the EWS Category and is also having a valid certificate issued by the Competent Authority, the mistake committed in declaring the provisional result was rectified and the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was declared selected under the EWS Category as he has secured 65 marks in the examination and the petitioner Chandra Prakash Bhardwaj who secured 64 marks was placed in the waiting list at S.No.1 under the EWS Category. Counsel also submitted that the documents of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar in regard to the required qualifications were also verified and were found to be valid. 12. Considered the submissions advanced by the counsels appearing for the respective parties. 13. The issues emerges for consideration of the Court are:- “(i) Whether the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar belongs to EWS Category and has been rightly declared selected under the EWS Category while revising the result? 12. Considered the submissions advanced by the counsels appearing for the respective parties. 13. The issues emerges for consideration of the Court are:- “(i) Whether the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar belongs to EWS Category and has been rightly declared selected under the EWS Category while revising the result? And (ii) Whether the respondent No.4- Suneel Kumar possesses the requisite qualifications and experience as required under the terms and conditions of the advertisement and further whether he has submitted the experience certificate in a requisite format issued by the Competent Authority as per the requirement under the terms and conditions of the advertisement ?”. 14. The respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar submitted his Online application form for recruitment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst wherein he has mentioned his category as ‘General EWS’. In the provisional result declared by the respondents the category of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was mentioned as “General” but after re -verification of the documents of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar it was found that he belongs to EWS Category and also possesses the valid certificate issued by the Competent Authority. The mistake committed while declaring the initial result was rectified and the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was declared selected under the EWS Category as he was having 65 marks and the petitioner was placed at S.No.1 in the waiting list of EWS Category as he has secured 64 marks i.e. less than the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar. During the course of arguments, the counsel appearing for the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has also placed before the Court the EWS Certificates issued in favour of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar. The first EWS Certificate was issued in favour of respondent No.4 on 13.08.2021 issued by the Office of Sub Divisional Officer, Sarmathura, District Dholpur which was valid for the year 2021-22. Another certificate was issued in his favour on 29.04.2022 by the same authority which was valid for the year 2022-23 and further another EWS Certificate dated 21.04.2023 was issued by the same authority in favour of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar which was valid for the year 2023-24 and the certificate dated 07.04.2024 was issued to be valid for the year 2024-25. The said certificates are now the part of the record. The said certificates are now the part of the record. On consideration of certificates issued by the Office of Sub Divisional Officer, Sarmathura, District Dholpur on 13.08.2021 which was valid for the year 2021-22, it can be held that the consideration of the candidature of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar under the EWS Category for recruitment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst pursuant to the advertisement dated 10.01.2022 does not suffer from any illegality for the reason that the advertisement was issued on 10.01.2022 and the last date for submitting the application was 02.02.2022 and as on the last date of submitting the application form, the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar was having a valid EWS certificate issued by the Competent Authority. 15. The other issue which has been raised by the counsel appearing for the petitioner is that the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar is not holding the experience of Analyst of Drug in Laboratories under the Government Analyst as per the requirement under the terms and conditions of the advertisement and has not submitted the experience certificate in the prescribed format signed by the Government Analyst of a Government Laboratory. 16. In the advertisement dated 10.01.2022 the eligibility criteria has been mentioned which is quoted as under:- “ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (as per the ARTHANA available in this information booklet) 1. Educational Qualification B.Pharm with 3 years experience of analysis of drugs in a laboratory under Govt. Analyst* or possesses Associateship Diploma of the Institution of Chemist (India) obtained by passing the said examination with 'Analysis of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals' as one of the subjects with 1 year experience of analysis of drugs in a laboratory under the control of Govt. Analyst or B.Pharm with 3 years experience of analysis of drugs in a laboratory approved under Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 (23 of 1940)** Important *Certificate in prescribed proforma 1A and/or 16, issued by Govt. Analyst on or before the date of the recruitment examination i.e 10.02.2022, is mandatory for submission by 13.02.2022 through candidate login at the RUHS website. **Certificate in prescribed proforma 2A and/or 28, issued by manufacturing company/approved analytical laboratory and subsequently approved by/countersigned by Drugs Controller/Licensing Authority on or before the date of the recruitment examination ie 10.02.2022, is mandatory for submission by 13.02.2022 through candidate login at the RUHS website. 2. **Certificate in prescribed proforma 2A and/or 28, issued by manufacturing company/approved analytical laboratory and subsequently approved by/countersigned by Drugs Controller/Licensing Authority on or before the date of the recruitment examination ie 10.02.2022, is mandatory for submission by 13.02.2022 through candidate login at the RUHS website. 2. Other qualification Knowledge of Hindi language in devnagri script (lipi) - to read, to write and to speak.” 17. As per the important note mentioned in the eligibility criteria as referred in the advertisement, the experience certificate is required to be submitted in the Proforma 1A and /or 1B issued by the Government Analyst on or before the date of the recruitment examination i.e. 10.02.2022 which is mandatory. The Proformas 1A and 1B are enclosed with the writ petition at page Nos. 23 and 24. The Proformas for experience certificate clearly speak that same should be issued by the Government Analyst on Government Laboratory’s Letter Head on or before the date of recruitment examination. 18. The respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has submitted the experience certificate during the process of recruitment which is Annex.R/4/9 at page 90 which has been issued by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission. The said certificate is signed by the Administrative Officer (I/c). The petitioner has also attached document (Annex.6) downloaded from the Website of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare which discloses the names of the Central Drugs Testing Laboratories. Alongwith the rejoinder, the petitioner has also placed on record the details about the formation given by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission in regard to information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (for short ‘the Act of 2005’), wherein it has been stated that the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission has not appointed any Government Analyst as per section 20 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 (for short ‘the Act of 1940’) and the list of Central Drugs Testing Laboratories is not available in the Commission and the Commission does not have any copy of list of Government Drug Testing Laboratory set up by State. The mandatory requirement as per the terms and conditions of the advertisement for recruitment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst is that a candidate must possess the Degree of B-Pharma with three years experience of Analyst of Drugs in a Laboratory under the Government Analyst. 19. Section 20 of the Act of 1940 provides for appointment of the Government Analysts. 19. Section 20 of the Act of 1940 provides for appointment of the Government Analysts. Section 20 of the Act of 1940 reads as under:- “20. Government Analysts.— (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit, having the prescribed qualifications, to be Government Analysts for such areas in the State and in respect of such drugs or classes of drugs or such cosmetics or classes of cosmetics as may be specified in the notifications. (2) The Central Government may also, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit, having the prescribed qualifications, to be Government Analysts in respect of such drugs or classes of drugs or such cosmetics or classes of cosmetics as may be specified in the notification. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (1) or sub-section (2), neither the Central Government nor a State Government shall appoint as a Government Analyst any official not serving under it without the previous consent of the Government under which he is serving. (4) No person who has any financial interest in the import, manufacture or sale of drugs or cosmetics shall be appointed to be a Government Analyst under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of this section.” From the bare reading of section 20 of the Act of 1940 it is very much clear that no government analyst can be appointed by the State Government or Central Government without issuing a notification in the Official Gazette after considering the qualifications of the candidate in view of the prescribed qualifications. 20. The terms and conditions of the advertisement clearly speak that a candidate must mandatorily submit the experience certificate of Analyst of Drugs in a Laboratory under the Government Analyst and the note speaks that a certificate must be submitted in Proforma 1A and/ or 1B issued by the Government Analyst. In the present case, the respondent No.4- Suneel Kumar has submitted the experience certificate dated 28.01.2022 issued by the Administrative Officer of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission for consideration of his candidature for appointment as an Assistant Drug Analyst. 21. In the present case, the respondent No.4- Suneel Kumar has submitted the experience certificate dated 28.01.2022 issued by the Administrative Officer of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission for consideration of his candidature for appointment as an Assistant Drug Analyst. 21. On perusal of the details about the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, as attached with the rejoinder, it is found that the Commission is required to perform inter alia functions such as revision and publication of the Indian Pharmacopoeia and National Formulary of India on a regular basis besides providing IP Reference Substances and training to the stakeholders on Pharmacopoeial issues. 22. Counsel appearing for the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has submitted that the Commission is also engaged in analysis of the drugs and therefore, the experience under the Commission is valid for recruitment to the post Assistant Drug Analyst as required by the advertisement. 23. It is pertinent to mention here that the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission itself while issuing the letter dated 19.07.2022 on an application for information under the Act of 2005 itself has said that the Commission has not appointed any government analyst as per section 20 of the Act of 1940 and also does not have a list of Central Drug Testing Laboratories. The contents of the letter dated 19.07.2022 are mentioned as under for reference:- “Kindly refer to your online RTI registration No.CDSCO/R/E/22/00177 dated 06.06.2022 & CDSCO/R/E/22/00178 dated 06.06.2022 received in this office on 11.07.2022 for seeking information under RTI ACT-2005. 2. Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission has not appointed any Government Analyst as per section 20 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act 1940. 3. List of Central Drug Testing Laboratory released by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi is not available in Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission. 4. Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission does not have any copy of list of Govt. Drug Testing Laboratory set up by State.” 24. The list of drug testing laboratories issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare also does not include the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission in the list of Drug Testing Laboratories. 25. 4. Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission does not have any copy of list of Govt. Drug Testing Laboratory set up by State.” 24. The list of drug testing laboratories issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare also does not include the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission in the list of Drug Testing Laboratories. 25. The certificate (Annex.R/49) issued in favour of respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar in regard to the experience has been issued by the Administrative Officer of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission whereas as per the important note given in the eligibility criteria as mentioned in the advertisement, a candidate must have an experience certificate mandatorily to be issued by the Government Analyst and the prescribed format for experience certificate also clearly speaks that it should be issued by the Government Analyst on Government Laboratory’s letter head. In view of the required terms and conditions and so also the discussion made above, the experience certificate submitted by the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar during the process of recruitment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst cannot be treated to be a valid one for considering him eligible for requirement on the post of Assistant Drug Analyst in view of terms and conditions of the advertisement. 26. Counsel appearing for the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar has relied upon the certificate (Annex.R/4/8) issued by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories wherein the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission has been assessed and accredited in accordance with the standard ISO 17034:2016. This certificate cannot be said to be helpful for the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar for the reason that it does not disclose that the Commission is a Government Laboratory and also for the reason that the Commission itself has stated that they have not appointed any person as a Government Analyst as required under section 20 of the Act of 1940. Whereas the terms and conditions of the requirement clearly mandate that the experience certificate should be issued in a prescribed format by the Government Analyst on the Government Laboratory’s letter head. 27. Whereas the terms and conditions of the requirement clearly mandate that the experience certificate should be issued in a prescribed format by the Government Analyst on the Government Laboratory’s letter head. 27. Since the experience certificate issued in favour of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar is held to be invalid for treating the respondent No.4 as eligible for recruitment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst pursuant to the advertisement dated 10.01.2022, the selection of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar vide revised result dated 25.05.2022 is held to be illegal and arbitrary and deserves to be set aside. 28. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed. The selection of the respondent No.4 Suneel Kumar for the post of Assistant Drug Analyst pursuant to the advertisement dated 10.01.2022 under the EWS Category is set aside. The respondents are directed to consider the candidature of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Assistant Drug Analyst against the vacancy reserved for EWS Category, if he is otherwise found suitable and is in merit. The petitioner is also held entitled for consequential benefits as like other selected candidates. 29. In view of the order passed in the main petition, the stay application and pending application(s), if any, also stand disposed of.