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Madhya Pradesh HC: Forged entry cancels right to public job
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has upheld the cancellation of a Gram Rojgar Sahayak’s appointment, ruling that a candidate who secures public employment through forged records has no vested right to hold office. Justice Vivek Kumar Singh observed that the petitioner had manipulated the Gram Panchayat’s receipt register to bypass the statutory cut-off date, making his appointment void from the start.
The petitioner had applied by the March 5, 2010 deadline and was appointed on July 28, 2010. However, a complaint revealed that a computer experience certificate from Radix College attached to his application was dated March 9, 2010, meaning the application could not have been submitted before that date. The Collector of Satna, after a remand from the High Court, found that the receipt register entry for March 4, 2010 was forged and backdated.
The court rejected the petitioner’s argument that the certificate carried no marks and was irrelevant. It held that fraud vitiates everything and that a tainted foundational act, the dishonest submission of the application, collapses the entire appointment. Dismissing the petition, the bench noted the Collector had complied with earlier court directions.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The ruling reinforces the principle that public employment obtained through fraud is void ab initio, not merely voidable. This is consistent with Supreme Court precedents, including the landmark R. Vishwanatha Pillai case, which held that no equity arises from a fraudulent appointment. The case is significant because the fraud was not in the candidate's qualifications but in the procedural record, tampering with a government register to fake a submission date. This could deter future attempts to manipulate administrative timelines. The next step would be for the state to initiate recovery of any salary paid to the petitioner, as courts typically order restitution when appointment is set aside for fraud.
Source: livelaw.in
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