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Kerala State Road Transport Corporation v. Akhilesh V. S.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 443Decided 1 Apr 2019
Civil Appeal No. 3346 of 2019
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice Navin Sinha

Background

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation had requisitioned a limited number of vacancies for the post of Blacksmith Grade II, and the Kerala Public Service Commission prepared a rank list from which some candidates were appointed. The respondents, who were empanelled lower down the rank list (at serial numbers 284 and 294, while appointments stopped at rank 278), were not appointed before the rank list expired. The Kerala High Court directed the Corporation to make appointments against 97 vacancies, including ones that arose later during the life of the rank list, prompting the Corporation to appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that mere empanelment or the mere existence of vacancies does not create any indefeasible right to appointment, and an employer retains discretion not to fill all requisitioned vacancies provided its reasons are valid, genuine, and not arbitrary. The Court found the Corporation's stated reasons, a financial crunch and a skewed bus-to-passenger ratio (for which it had even set up a remedial committee), to be valid and genuine grounds for withholding further appointments. It further held that vacancies arising later due to retirements, etc., could not simply be clubbed with the original requisition and had to go through a fresh selection process. The High Court's mandamus was accordingly set aside and the Corporation's appeals were allowed.

Lesson Learnt

Being placed on a selection panel or rank list does not guarantee a job: a government employer can lawfully decline to fill vacancies for genuine financial or operational reasons, and courts will not force an appointment merely because a name appears on an unexpired panel.

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

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