/>

Eligibility rules in public appointments can’t be changed midway: SC

The Constitution Bench held that the inclusion of a name in the selection list did not guarantee an absolute right to appointment.

Updated - November 07, 2024 11:50 am IST

A view of premises of the Supreme Court of India. A five-judge Constitution Bench passed its verdict on public appointment norms.

A view of premises of the Supreme Court of India. A five-judge Constitution Bench passed its verdict on public appointment norms. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

A five-judge Constitution Bench held on Thursday (November 7, 2024) that eligibility rules or the ‘rules of the game’ in public appointments cannot be changed midway through the recruitment process.

The Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had examined the reference on whether changing the criteria for appointments to public posts midway violate the right to equality and the right against discrimination.

Justice Manoj Misra, who authored the judgment for the Bench, said the rules which were extant at the commencement of the appointments/recruitment process cannot be altered as long as they were non-discriminatory, consistent with Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution and non-arbitrary.

The Constitution Bench held that the inclusion of a name in the selection list did not guarantee an absolute right to appointment. However, the recruiting authority must show reasonable reasons for non-appointment of candidates whose names had made it to the selection list.

The Bench had reserved the judgment in July last year.

The case stemmed from the Rajasthan High Court’s recruitment for 13 vacancies for translators in 2009.

The High Court had raised the cut-off marks to 75 after the completion of the stages of written exam and interviews in the recruitment process. As a result, only three candidates were found eligible.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.