Trinita John v. Union Territory Of Puducherry
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 04-03-2026
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE P.T. ASHA and WMP NO. 6643 of 2026 Trinita John W/O.K.Pragadeeswaran No.36, 1st floor, First cross street Tagore Nagar, Pakkamudiyanpet, Lawspet, Puducherry-605 008 ..Petitioner(s) Vs
1. Union Territory of Puducherry represented by its Chief Secretary Chief Secretariat, Puducherry
2. The Secretary to Government Revenue and Disaster Management Department Government of Puducherry, Puducherry
3. The District Collector, Puducherry
4. The Tahsidar-cum-Executive Magistrate Taluk office, Oulgaret, Puducherry
5. The Superintending Engineer-cum-Head of Department, Electricity Department Government of Puducherry
6. The Officer on Special Duty (Recruitment) Electricity Department Government of Puducherry ..Respondent(s)
Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue a writ of mandamus directing the third respondent/District Collector, Puducherry, to consider and dispose of the petitioner's representation dated 20.01.2026 submitted against the proceedings of the fourth respondent in No.3924/TOO/A/Residence certi/2025 dated 21.08.2025 within a time frame as may be fixed by this Court and consequently direct the respondents to keep one unreserved vacancy of Junior Engineer (Electrical) unfilled and to protect the petitioner's candidature till such disposal.
For Petitioner(s):
Ms.R.Rayees Fathima For Respondent(s):
Mr.G.D.Jearany Government Advocate (Puducherry)
ORDER
The above writ petition is being filed for the following relief: "seeking a mandamus to the third respondent/District Collector, Puducherry, to consider and dispose of the petitioner's representation dated 20.01.2026 submitted against the proceedings of the fourth respondent in No.3924/TOO/A/Residence certi/2025 dated 21.08.2025 within a time frame as may be fixed by this Court and consequently direct the respondents to keep one unreserved vacancy of Junior Engineer (Electrical) unfilled and to protect the petitioner's candidature till such disposal."
2.
It is the case of the petitioner that she was born on 13.10.1995 at Sreekandapuram Municipality, Kannur District, Kerala and on account of her father's employment, had her earlier education at Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. Thereafter, she had completed her Under Graduate (UG) in Engineering and pursued Post Graduate (PG) (M.Tech-Green Energy Technology) in Puducherry during the academic year 2018-2020. It is her further case that during that period, she has been continuously residing at Puducherry. Thereafter, since COVID-19 pandemic had set in, she had returned to her parental home. Subsequently, she was employed in TATA Consultancy Services, Chennai. However, it is her contention that she maintained a professional and personal association with Puducherry, where, she intended to settle permanently. On 08.09.2024, she had married one K.
Pragadeeswaran, a permanent resident of Puducherry and the marriage was registered on 02.05.2025. After marriage, she was continuously residing in Puducherry at the address given in this writ petition. Therefore, since she had permanently relocated to Puducherry, she cancelled her ration card in Tamil Nadu and included her name in her husband's ration card in Puducherry. Further, her Voter card, Aadhaar card, etc. reflects her Puducherry address. It is her contention that she has been gainfully employed in Puducherry with Adapt Mobile Cloud Applications Private Limited, Puducherry from 01.04.2024 till 05.09.2025 and prior to that, she was undertaking work from home residing in Puducherry and therefore, she is a permanent resident of Puducherry.
3.
While so, the Government of Puducherry had issued a notification dated 11.03.2025 calling for applications to the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical) in the Electricity Department. The petitioner applied for the said post under the unreserved category and she had appeared for the competitive examination on 08.06.2025. The petitioner has successfully cleared the examination and secured 7th rank in unreserved category. Thereafter, she was called for certificate verification on 30.06.2025 and appeared for the same. 4.
The petitioner would submit that in compliance with the notification requirement, she had applied for residence certificate with the fourth respondent/Tahsildar-cum-Executive Magistrate, Oulgaret, Puducherry, enclosing all her documents. Despite receiving the said documentary evidence and favourable field enquiry, the fourth respondent rejected the petitioner's application by order dated 21.08.2025 solely relying on the ground that she had not completed five years of continuous residence immediately preceding the date of application. The petitioner had challenged the said order by preferring an appeal before the third respondent/Collector, Puducherry, on 21.01.2026 seeking reconsideration of the claim for issuance of residence certificate. While the appeal was pending, the Electricity Department had announced the issuance of appointment order and therefore, the petitioner has come forward with the writ in question.
5.
The entire arguments that were advanced by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner was that the petitioner has been residing for over five year in Puducherry and therefore, she is entitled to be considered for the said post.
6.
Though the writ petition has been filed seeking a mandamus to the third respondent to dispose of the representation, the petitioner has asked for the consequential relief to keep one unreserved vacancy of Junior Engineer (Electrical) unfilled. The petitioner's request to keep one unreserved vacancy unfilled cannot be conceded to, in view of the fact that, admittedly, the petitioner has only studied in Puducherry. Being a resident of Tamil Nadu, had undertaken her PG degree in Puducherry for a period of two years from 2018 to 2020 and thereafter, she has returned to Puducherry only after her marriage on 08.09.2024. The notification issued by the Government of Puducherry was on 11.03.2025. The notification clearly stipulates the production of nativity/residence certificate, as per the condition no.4, which reads as follows: "4.NATIVITY/RESIDENCE CERTIFICATE:
Those who are native of Union Territory of Puucherry or who have continuous residence in the Union Territory for the last 5 years immediately preceding the closure date of notification only are eligible to apply for the posts. The applicants on selection should furnish the Nativity/Residence Certificate issued by an Officer of the Department of Revenue and Disastr Management not below the rank of Deputy Tahsildar, at the time of certificate verification."
7.
A reading of the above clearly shows that the applicant should have been continuously residing in Union Territory five years immediately preceding the closure date of the notification. The closure date of the notification is 31.03.2025 and therefore, the candidate should have been residing from 01.04.2020 continuously at Puducherry. Admittedly, from the documents, it is clear that the petitioner has not been continuously residing in Puducherry and therefore, her request for a resident certificate cannot be conceded to. 8.
In these circumstances, no useful purpose would be served directing the first respondent to consider the appeal pending before him preferred by the petitioner, as this Court, sitting in Article 226 of the Constitution of India, has taken note of the documents submitted by the petitioner to arrive at a conclusion that the petitioner had not proved being a continuous resident of Puducherry five years immediately preceding the closure date of the notification.
Therefore, this writ petition stands dismissed. No costs. Connected W.M.P. is closed.
04-03-2026 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order nsd
To
1. The Chief Secretary Union Territory of Puducherry Chief Secretariat, Puducherry
2. The Secretary to Government Revenue and Disaster Management Department Government of Puducherry, Puducherry
3. The District collector Puducherry
4. The Tahsidar-cum-Executive Magistrate Taluk office Oulgaret, Puducherry
5. The Superintending Engineer-cum-Head of Department Electricity Department Government of Puducherry
6. The Officer on special Duty (Recruitment) Electricity Department Government of Puducherry
P.T.ASHA J.
nsd AND WMP NO. 6643 OF 2026 04-03-2026