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Dinesh Kumar Kashyap & Ors. v. South East Central Railway & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 1103Decided 27 Nov 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 11360-11363 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Deepak Gupta · Justice Hemant Gupta

Background

The South East Central Railway advertised thousands of Group-D posts in 2010, and under its own rules called 20% extra candidates (an "extra" or "replacement" list) beyond the number of vacancies, to be used if selected candidates failed to join. Even though 624 posts in the general category went unfilled, the Railway never appointed anyone from this 20% extra list, and the affected candidates' claims were rejected by the Central Administrative Tribunal and the High Court.

Decision Breakdown

By majority (Kurian Joseph, J. and Deepak Gupta, J.), the Supreme Court held that while being on a select list does not create an automatic right to appointment, the State cannot arbitrarily leave posts unfilled without giving any justifiable reason, and here the Railway gave no real explanation for ignoring the replacement panel despite vacancies existing. The majority allowed the appeals, directed appointment of the eligible candidates (without back wages, but with notional seniority benefits). Justice Hemant Gupta dissented, holding that extra-list candidates have no vested right to appointment, that the Railway's later recruitment cycles justified not using the replacement panel, and that the panel's validity had in any event lapsed with time: he would have dismissed the appeals. As the majority view prevails, the appeals stood allowed.

Lesson Learnt

Being on a government job "select" or "extra" list does not guarantee an appointment, but if vacancies genuinely remain unfilled, the State must give a real, non-arbitrary reason for not filling them from that list: arbitrary inaction can itself be challenged and corrected by courts.

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

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