‘Eligibility criteria cannot be changed mid-way’: SC on recruitment process for government jobs | India News – Times of India

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that appointment criteria for public sector jobs cannot be changed during the process unless specifically permitted.
The ruling was delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachudwhich specified that recruitment begins with the publication of advertisements and ends when vacancies are filled.
“The eligibility criteria for inclusion on the selection list notified at the commencement of the recruitment process cannot be changed midway through the recruitment process unless the existing rules so permit or the advertisement not contrary to the existing rules so permits ” the spokesperson said. bench noted and added that transparency and non-discrimination should be the hallmarks of public recruitment.
The SC constitutional bench, which also included Justices Hrishikesh Roy, PS Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra, unanimously observed that any permissible changes must comply with Article 14 of the Constitution and demonstrate non-arbitrariness.
Judge Misra stated in his judgment that recruitment organizations may establish appropriate procedures to complete the selection process, provided they are transparent, fair and rationally linked to the intended outcome.
The court determined that where vacancies exist, authorities cannot unreasonably deny appointments of qualified candidates to the consideration list.
“Recruitment authorities subject to the existing rules may devise an appropriate procedure to bring the recruitment process to its logical conclusion, provided that the procedure so followed is transparent, non-discriminatory and non-arbitrary and has a rationale related to the intended purpose.” said Justice Mishra.
The ruling also addressed a question on the appointment criteria for government jobs, which a three-judge bench had referred to in March 2013. The earlier court had referred to a 1965 judgment that emphasized the principle that the state should not change the ‘rules of the game’.
“Whether such a principle should be applied in the context of the ‘rules of the game’ that govern the procedure for selection, more particularly where the change sought is the imposition of a more rigorous control over selection, requires an authoritative ruling from a larger bench of this court,” the three-judge bench had said.
In other key rulings during the day, the apex court ordered the liquidation of all assets of airline Jet Airways, quashing the NCLAT judgment approving the transfer of grounded airline Jet Airways to Jalan Kalrock Consortium.
Read more: SC quashes NCLAT decision and orders liquidation of Jet Airways assets