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State of Orissa & Ors. v. State (TRYSEM) Live Stock Inspector Sangha & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 707Decided 14 Aug 2018
Civil Appeal No. 8253 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

Under Orissa's Veterinary Technical Service recruitment rules, the educational qualification for direct recruitment to the post of Livestock Inspector was "matriculation," later raised by a 1997 amendment to "+2 Science" or equivalent. A group of candidates who had been trained in 1994-97 under the TRYSEM (Training Rural Youth for Self Employment) scheme, when qualification was still matriculation, sought appointment years later against vacancies that had arisen before the 1997 amendment. The High Court held that since the vacancies arose before 1997, the older (lower) qualification should apply, and ruled in the candidates' favour. The State of Orissa appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that for direct recruitment (as opposed to promotion), the qualification to be applied is the one in force at the time of actual recruitment/selection, not the qualification in force when the vacancy first arose. It found the High Court had mistakenly treated the 1984 Rules and their 1997 amendment as two separate, independent sets of rules, when in fact they were a single set of rules later amended. Relying on its earlier ruling in Union of India v. Yogendra Singh, the Court reasoned that no candidate has a vested right to be appointed against an old vacancy using an educational qualification that has since been superseded; only promotees (not direct recruits) can claim selection under rules as they stood when the vacancy arose, based on legitimate expectation. The High Court's judgment was set aside and the State's appeal was allowed, though the Court left it open to the respondents to separately petition the Government for relaxation of the qualification given their training and prior engagement as Livestock Inspectors.

Lesson Learnt

In government direct-recruitment (as opposed to promotion) cases, candidates must meet the educational/eligibility criteria that are in force at the time of actual selection, not the criteria that existed when the vacancy first opened up, even if that means years of delay work against them.

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

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