A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud held on Thursday that the eligibility criteria or the ‘rules of the game’ for selection of candidates to public services cannot be changed midway once the recruitment commences.
“Eligibility criteria for being placed in the select list, notified at the commencement of the recruitment process, cannot be changed midway through the recruitment process unless the extant Rules so permit, or the advertisement, which is not contrary to the extant Rules, so permit,” Justice Manoj Misra, who authored the judgment, concluded.
The Constitution Bench, in the unanimous 44-page judgment, held that the laws, rules and procedure governing recruitments to public services, both of the Union and the States, must be governed by the overarching principles of the fundamental rights of equality and non-discrimination.
Even if the criteria has to be altered, the change would have to meet the requirements of Articles 14 (right to equality), 16 (equal opportunity in public employment and non-discrimination) of the Constitution and satisfy the test of non-arbitrariness, the court underscored.
Justifying denial
However, the judgment said a spot on the select list would not guarantee a candidate the indefeasible right to be appointed even if vacancies were available. However, on the other hand, the state or any of its instrumentalities cannot arbitrarily deny appointment to a selected candidate. Therefore, Justice Misra said, it would be the state’s burden to justify the denial of appointment to a selected candidate.
Justice Misra explained the colloquial phrase ‘the rules of the game’.
“The ‘game’ is the process of selection and appointment. Courts have consistently frowned upon tinkering with the rules of the game once the recruitment process commences. This has crystallised into an oft-quoted legal phrase that ‘the rules of the game must not be changed mid-way, or after the game has been played’,” the judge explained.
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The ‘rules’ roughly fell into two categories: one which prescribes the eligibility criteria or the essential qualifications of the candidates seeking employment; and the other which stipulates the method and manner of making the selection from amongst the eligible candidates.
Rational nexus
The court explained that a ‘recruitment process’ began with the issuance of the advertisement calling for applications and ended with filling up of the vacancies. The recruitment must follow the extant Rules and adopt a procedure which was transparent, non-discriminatory, non-arbitrary and had a rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved. The Rules concerned were binding on the recruiting body both in terms of procedure and eligibility.