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Anurag Kumar Singh & Ors. v. State of Uttarakhand & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8334 of 2013)Decided 5 Oct 2016
Civil Appeal No. 8334 of 2013
Justice Shiva Kirti Singh · Justice L. Nageswara Rao

Background

The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission advertised 38 posts of Assistant Prosecuting Officers in 2009, though an RTI request later revealed that 74 vacancies were actually being processed for selection. A candidate who had applied challenged this before the Uttarakhand High Court, which ruled that only the 38 originally advertised posts could be filled, since the extra posts were created outside the defined "recruitment year." Candidates who stood to be selected for the additional posts appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that, as a well-settled principle of service law, selections made pursuant to an advertisement can fill only the vacancies that were clear or reasonably anticipated as of that recruitment year, not vacancies created afterward, even if the advertisement reserved a right for the government to vary the number of posts. Since the additional 36 posts were created after the relevant recruitment year had ended, they could not be filled through the same 2009 selection process. The Court also declined to exercise judicial discretion to appoint the appellants anyway out of sympathy, holding that courts cannot override statutory recruitment rules even where the affected candidates themselves did nothing wrong. It directed the State to hold a fresh advertisement and selection for the additional posts without delay, and dismissed the appeals, upholding the High Court's judgment.

Lesson Learnt

A government job advertisement generally can only be used to fill the vacancies that existed (or were specifically anticipated) at that time: a flexible "we may increase the number of posts" clause does not let the government fold in vacancies that arise later into the same old selection list.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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