The Supreme Court set aside the Bihar government’s decision to cancel the 2019 selection process for the appointment of over 6,000 junior engineers (JEs). The court deemed the cancellation “impermissible” and emphasized that the state cannot arbitrarily scrap an ongoing recruitment process.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled that the Bihar government’s decision to cancel the 2019 selection process for appointing over 6,000 junior engineers in the state’s water resources department was “impermissible.”
A bench consisting of Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma stated,
“Nullifying the selection process after its completion amounts to effectively changing the rules of the game after the game was played, which is impermissible.”
The Supreme Court directed the Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC) to continue with the appointment process based on the fresh select list submitted before the Patna High Court.
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The bench ordered,
“The Fresh Select List be prepared in accordance with the High Court’s order dated April 19, 2022, and shall include, as far as possible, those meritorious candidates who were otherwise eligible but were declared ineligible solely due to the 2017 amendment to the Rules, i.e., because their institute was not recognized by the AICTE, along with all similarly placed successful candidates.”
The BTSC has been instructed to complete the revised select list of successful candidates within three months, with the state government required to appoint them within 30 days thereafter.
This ruling comes in response to an appeal challenging the Patna High Court’s decision, which had dismissed cases concerning the selection process after the state announced its cancellation. The High Court was handling petitions that questioned the validity of a rule under the Bihar Water Resources Department Subordinate Engineering (Civil) Cadre Recruitment (Amendment) Rules 2017, which set the technical qualification requirements for the posts.
In March 2019, BTSC issued an advertisement seeking applications for 6,379 Junior Engineer vacancies across various state departments.
The rules required candidates to hold a Diploma in Civil Engineering from a Technical Educational Council or University recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Some candidates, whose diplomas obtained from private universities not approved by AICTE, challenged the rejection of their applications in the High Court.
The High Court accepted their plea and allowed the Bihar Technical Service Commission (BTSC) to proceed with the selection process, while stating that the final selection would be subject to the court’s ruling.
On April 2, 2022, the BTSC released its selection list for the advertised posts and assigned departments to the successful candidates. However, the Bihar government later held a meeting with secretaries from various departments and decided to cancel the entire selection process.
The High Court allowed the Bihar government to proceed with its decision to cancel the selection process and subsequently dismissed the pending petitions.
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The Supreme Court, however, observed,
“Despite the preparation of the Final Select List, marking the conclusion of the appointment process, the state government seeks to nullify the entire process and initiate a new one under the updated rules. In the considered view of this court, such action amounts to effectively changing the rules of the game after it has been played, which is impermissible and deprives the candidates of their legitimate right to consideration under the previous rules.”
The apex court also criticized the High Court for “abruptly” closing the proceedings without providing proper reasons, stating,
“In light of the aforementioned position, the state’s action of scrapping the entire selection process is not permissible.”