Jitesh Kumar Srivasatava vs. Airport Authority of India & Anr.
Background
A candidate appeared for a written test for Junior Executive (Air Traffic Control) posts with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) before he later joined Indian Railways as a trainee. By the time he reached the document-verification stage of the AAI recruitment process, he was already employed with the Railways, and the advertisement required such candidates to submit a "No Objection Certificate" (NOC) from their current employer. He undertook to submit the NOC within seven days but could not, despite repeated requests to his employer and to AAI for more time. AAI cancelled his candidature, and his challenge to this decision failed before a Single Judge.
Decision Breakdown
The Division Bench held that the relevant date for the NOC requirement was the date of document verification (when he was undisputedly employed with the Railways), not the earlier date of the written test. Having personally signed an undertaking to submit the NOC within seven days, he could not later avoid the consequence of failing to do so, even though his efforts to obtain it were found to be genuine. The Court held that a recruiting authority must apply eligibility conditions uniformly to all candidates in a large recruitment drive (309 posts), and cannot be compelled to indefinitely wait for one candidate's document from another department outside its control. The appeal was dismissed.
Lesson Learnt
In recruitment to public posts, eligibility conditions such as producing an NOC are assessed as of the date specified in the recruitment process (often document verification), and a candidate's voluntary written undertaking to meet a deadline is strictly enforceable: genuine efforts to comply are not a substitute for actual compliance.