Tej Prakash Pathak & Ors. Vs Rajasthan High Court & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court held that eligibility criteria, notified at the commencement of the recruitment process, cannot be changed midway through the recruitment process unless the extant Rules so permit. Further, change would have to meet the requirement of Article 14 of the constitution.
Facts- A three-Judge Bench of this Court while accepting the salutary principle that once the recruitment process commences the State or its instrumentality cannot tinker with the “rules of the game” insofar as the prescription of eligibility criteria is concerned, wondered whether that should apply also to the procedure for selection. In that context, doubting the correctness of a coordinate Bench decision in K. Manjusree for not having noticed an earlier decision in Subash Chander Marwaha, vide order dated 20 March 2013, it was directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice for constituting a larger Bench for an authoritative pronouncement on the subject.
Conclusion- Held that 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. Even if such change is permissible under the extant Rules or the advertisement, the change would have to meet the requirement of Article 14 of the Constitution and satisfy the test of non-arbitrariness.
