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K. Gunavathi v. V. Sangeeth Kumar and Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3342 of 2014)Decided 7 Mar 2014
Civil Appeal No. 3342 of 2014
Chief Justice P. Sathasivam · Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice N.V. Ramana

Background

Tamil Nadu's appointment of school computer instructors had produced repeated litigation between existing ad hoc instructors and qualified candidates waiting for appointment. Earlier Supreme Court directions allowed specified remaining vacancies to be filled using employment-exchange seniority after a special regularisation exercise. The High Court later directed competitive recruitment for 652 vacancies, and candidates challenged that departure.

Decision Breakdown

The Court found no adequate justification for departing from its earlier specific recruitment directions. The asserted change of policy was not satisfactorily supported by the government orders and other recruitment material placed before it, and the High Court had not explained its inconsistent treatment of the same issue. The Court set aside the challenged directions and required the 652 vacancies, together with the earlier 175 vacancies if still unfilled, to be filled using employment-exchange seniority. For other existing or future vacancies, the State remained free to follow its applicable or chosen policy. The Court treated this as an exception arising from the particular litigation, not the normal method of public recruitment.

Lesson Learnt

A recruitment authority must honour binding directions for a particular selection unless a proper basis for changing them is established. This exceptional order for identified vacancies does not create a general right to government employment solely through employment-exchange seniority.

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

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