The Supreme Court has held that candidates whose names appear in a select list do not acquire any vested or indefeasible right to appointment when a fresh recruitment process is ordered to ensure equal opportunity for candidates who were earlier excluded from consideration.
The Bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Atul S Chandurkar upheld the Madras High Court’s direction for a fresh recruitment exercise for 113 posts of Motor Vehicle Inspector Grade-II in Tamil Nadu, observing that the requirement of fairness, transparency and equality of opportunity in public employment must prevail over claims arising from a provisional selection list.
The Court observed that mere inclusion in a revised select list did not confer an enforceable right to appointment, particularly when the candidates continue to retain the opportunity to participate in the fresh recruitment process undertaken by the authorities.
The dispute arose from a 2018 recruitment notification issued by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) for filling 113 posts through direct recruitment. Out of 2,176 applicants, 1,328 candidates were permitted to appear for the written examination, while only 32 candidates were ultimately found eligible for interview on the basis of the requirement of one-year workshop experience.
The controversy centred on the validity of work experience certificates issued by workshops whose approvals had expired and were pending renewal by the state authorities. Several candidates were excluded from the selection process on this ground, even though the state later granted retrospective renewals to such workshops.
In January 2020, a single-judge Bench of the Madras High Court set aside the provisional selection of the 32 candidates and directed fresh verification of the experience certificates of all 1,328 candidates. The matter subsequently underwent multiple rounds of adjudication before the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court.
Following re-verification, the TNPSC proceeded afresh and called 226 candidates for oral tests in 2021. However, the Division Bench of the High Court later directed that the recruitment exercise be conducted afresh after finding that several candidates had been prejudiced due to delays in renewal of workshop approvals, a factor entirely beyond their control.
Upholding this approach, the Supreme Court noted that the concerned workshops had continued to service government vehicles and were reflected as approved establishments on official records. The Bench observed that neither the candidates nor the workshops could be held responsible for administrative delays in renewal of approvals, and that such delays could not be used to defeat legitimate consideration for public employment.
The Court further observed that candidates could not be deprived of consideration for recruitment on the basis of valid work experience merely due to technical or procedural lapses in renewal of workshop approvals, particularly when they had no role in such deficiencies.
The Bench held that directing a fresh recruitment process ensured a level playing field by permitting participation of candidates who had earlier been excluded for reasons beyond their control, thereby strengthening the integrity of the selection process and enabling the identification of more meritorious candidates.
At the same time, the Court noted that the 32 candidates who were initially disqualified on account of expiry of workshop approvals would also be entitled to have their cases reconsidered, since the State had subsequently granted retrospective approval and their experience certificates had been re-verified.
The Apex Court also upheld the direction of the High Court requiring disclosure of marks of unsuccessful candidates, holding that such disclosure advanced the principles of transparency, accountability and public interest in recruitment to public posts.
The post Supreme Court upholds fresh hiring process for Tamil Nadu motor vehicle inspectors appeared first on India Legal.