Supreme Court sets aside Bihar government's decision to annul selection process of junior engineers

A bench comprising Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said scrapping the entire selection process after its completion 'amounts to effectively changing the rules of the game after the game was played, which is impermissible'.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said changing rules after the game was played is not permissible, as it directed the Bihar government to conduct selection to 6379 posts of junior engineers scrapped by it due to delay in the recruitment process initiated in 2019 and subsequent change in rules.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma ordered for revising the fresh select list, prepared in 2022, by including as far as possible those meritorious candidates who were otherwise eligible but were declared ineligible solely on account of the 2017 amendment to the Rules.

The advertisement issued in 2019 to the post was faced with legal challenges in the Patna High Court since 2017 amendment to rules mandated the candidates having secured their diploma from institutes not being recognised by the AICTE, would not be eligible.

In its judgment on October 4, the apex court said the amendment, which restricted the eligibility criteria only to those candidates who possessed a Diploma from an institute approved by the AICTE, was prima facie contrary to the decision of this court in Bharathidasan University & Anr Vs AICTE & Ors (2001).

The court had then held Universities are excluded from the purview of technical institutions and are thus not required to obtain approvals from the AICTE before introducing technical courses or programmes.

The bench pointed out this is solidified by the stand of the AICTE before this court and their public notice issued on February 19, 2022. However, despite this infraction, the advertisement continued with the same restrictions, disqualifying candidates.

During the pendency of the proceedings, the High Court directed the Bihar Technical Service Commission to prepare the final select list on April 19, 2022 and keep in sealed cover.

On January 25, 2023, however, the Bihar government, in a high-level meeting of secretaries of different departments, decided to cancel the appointment process and to initiate approval for the amended rules.

Once the decision of January 25, 2023 was brought on record, the High Court disposed of all proceedings "abruptly and without assigning reasons and without adjudicating any issue".

"Despite the preparation of the final select list which signals the conclusion of the appointment process, the state government seeks to scrap the entire process and undertake a fresh appointment process under the new rules. In the considered opinion of this Court, this amounts to effectively changing the rules of the game after the game was played which is impermissible and deprives the candidates of their legitimate right of consideration under the previous Rules," the bench said.

Dealing with a batch of appeals filed by Shashi Bhushan Prasad Singh and others, the bench also said this court in K Manjusree Vs State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr (2008) had explicitly held that introducing new requirements into the selection process after the entire selection process was completed amounted to changing the rules of the game after the game was played.

The court also noted as per the most recent status report by the State, nearly 9,187 posts of Junior Engineers remained vacant, drastically affecting the day-to-day functioning of the State. As retirements are ongoing, the working strength is continuously decreasing and is currently at 11.7 per cent, it said.

The court directed the BTSC to prepare the revised select list within three months. It also ordered and the state government to act upon the revised select list submitted by the Commission within a period of 30 days thereafter.