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

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

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.

Published - November 07, 2024 11:38 am IST