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Public Service Commission, Uttaranchal v. Jagdish Chandra Singh Bora

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3034 of 2007)Decided 3 Mar 2014
Civil Appeal No. 3034 of 2007
Justice S.S. Nijjar · Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai

Background

Trained apprentices sought ten bonus marks in recruitment for junior-engineer posts advertised under the 2001 rules. The High Court applied a preference introduced by later 2003 rules and ordered a revised merit list, although the advertised scheme had not included those marks.

Decision Breakdown

The Court allowed the Commission's appeals and set aside the High Court's directions. The later rules governed future recruitment and could not change the criteria advertised for this selection, to which other candidates had applied on the original terms. An executive clarification could not amend statutory rules, but that did not make the later rules applicable to the earlier recruitment. The Court also rejected the suggestion that the 2003 bonus should benefit only apprentices tied with direct recruits, since that interpretation would irrationally disadvantage higher-scoring apprentices.

Lesson Learnt

A recruitment preference introduced later does not automatically change an earlier advertised competition; candidates must be assessed under the rules governing that selection.

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

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