SC Sets Precedent: Govt Job Recruitment Rules Can't Be Altered Midway Without Specific Provision

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that public recruitment criteria cannot be amended once the process has begun unless they explicitly state so.

Answering a reference, a five-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said, “The recruitment process commences from the issuance of the advertisement calling for applications and ends with filling up of vacancies. Eligibility criteria for being placed in the select list, notified at the commencement of the recruitment process, cannot be changed between... rules so permit.”

The bench, also comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy, PS Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal, and Manoj Misra said, “If such change is permissible under the extant rules for the advertisement, the change would have to meet the requirement of the constitution and satisfy the test of non-arbitrariness.”

As the bench upheld the SC’s 2008 decision in K Manjusree vs. State of Andhra Pradesh and another case, it said it “lays down good law” and is not in conflict with the decision in its earlier decision in the Subhash Chand Marwah case. “Marwah deals with the right to be appointed from the select list, whereas K. Manjusree deals with the right to be placed in the select list. The two cases, therefore, deal with altogether different issues,” said the bench.

Writing for the bench, Justice Manoj Misra said, “Recruiting bodies subject to the extant rules may devise an appropriate procedure for bringing the recruitment process to its logical end, provided the procedure to be adopted is transparent, non-discriminatory, non-arbitrary, and has a rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved.”

In other key verdicts during the day, the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of all assets owned by Jet Airways, overturning the NCLAT decision that approved the transfer of grounded air carrier Jet Airways to Jalan Kalrock Consortium.