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State of U.P. v. Chunni Lal & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 776Decided 23 Nov 2021
Civil Appeal No. 6945 of 2021
Justice M.R. Shah · Justice B.V. Nagarathna

Background

Following a 1985 Combined State Service Examination for the post of Deputy Collector in U.P., the originally selected candidates did not join, so the Public Service Commission recommended Chunni Lal for one of the vacant posts. Before this could be finalised, another candidate, Ajay Shankar Pandey, separately won a High Court order directing the Commission to recommend him instead, and the Commission then withdrew its recommendation of Chunni Lal. Years later, the High Court, in a petition filed by Chunni Lal, directed the State to also appoint him to the same post, while directing that Ajay Shankar Pandey's appointment should not be disturbed, effectively ordering two appointments to one vacant position.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court's order was legally unsustainable because it is not possible to direct appointment of two different persons to a single post, especially when Ajay Shankar Pandey had already been appointed pursuant to an earlier, specific High Court order. The Court also noted that Chunni Lal had since retired (from a different post he held) in 2019, before the appeal was even decided, making the High Court's directive impossible to implement in any event. On both grounds, the legal impossibility of two appointments to one post, and the subsequent retirement, the Supreme Court quashed and set aside the High Court's judgment.

Lesson Learnt

A court cannot direct that two people be appointed to the same single government post; where a post has already been validly filled pursuant to one court order, a later claimant cannot be appointed to the very same vacancy without disturbing that earlier appointment.

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

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