J&K High Court Upholds Decision To Scrap Recruitment, Says Process Cannot Be Salvaged By Separating Tainted & Untainted Candidates

The Jammu & Kashmir High Court upheld the government's decision to scrap the selection process for Class IV/MTS posts in a district, citing serious irregularities in the procedure.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Parihar and Sanjeev Kumar set aside the judgment passed by the Tribunal which had interfered with the government's decision, observing that the selection was “neither fair nor transparent” and could not be salvaged by separating tainted candidates from the untainted ones.

The court noted that the selection committee had altered the criteria mid-process thereby raising the viva voice weightage from 20% to 40%, which amounted to a fundamental deviation. The Court said that this went “to the root of the selection process” and rendered it unsustainable.

The court observed that “any selection process made on the basis of such selection criteria is stillborn and cannot sustain in law."

The court also highlighted the shortlisting of candidates in a 1:20 ratio, observing that it was “irrational and aimed at bringing within the zone of consideration candidates with inferior merit,” which led to “burdening the selection Committee to interview thousands of candidates.”

The court further held that the selection committee was not properly constituted as per applicable government orders, and in fact, “even all the members of the Selection Committee did not participate in the selection process.”

The High Court refused to examine the sufficiency or legal tenability of the enquiry committee's observations, stating that it was enough that the government had acted in a bona fide manner:

With respect to above the court said that “we find that the entire exercise undertaken by the petitioners was bona fide and to ensure fairness and transparency in the selection process.”

It also reiterated the legal position that mere inclusion in a select list does not confer any vested right to appointment, particularly since “the select list prepared was yet to be acted upon.”

Rejecting the argument that similar selection processes in other districts were not scrapped, the Court said “two wrongs cannot make one right.

While allowing the petition and restoring the government's decision to cancel the selection, the court also permitted initiation of a fresh selection process and clarified that previously participating candidates “who were within age, shall not be treated as over-aged for the fresh selection process.”

APPEARANCE:

Faheem Nissar Shah, GA for Petitioners

Shariq J. Reyaz, Advocate. FOR Respondent.

Case-Title: U.T. OF J&K vs SHAKEEL AHMAD BHAT, 2025

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