NDLI: Union of India Vs. Uzair Imran & Ors.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Service Law
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Disposed Off
Headnote	Issue for consideration:Whether the concurrent findings returned by the tribunal and theHigh Court that denial of appointment to the third respondent wasunwarranted, is justified.Service Law – Appointment/selection – Post of PostalAssistant – Third respondent considered ineligible for thepost placed, though placed in the merit list, sent for trainingbut later excluded on basis of the certificate of educationalqualification, whereby he completed 10+ 2 education from thevocational stream – Tribunal and the High Court decided infavour of the respondentHeld: Third respondent was not considered ineligible at thethreshold based on the certificate but he went through selectionprocess, was sent for training, and later excluded on certificate’sconnotation – Unfettered discretion, unaccountable approach andarbitrariness in State action are antithesis to Art. 14, and, particularlywhen two views could possibly emerge looking at the certificate ofeducational qualification, with both views not being wholly unworthyof acceptance, fairness in administrative procedure demanded thatthe appellant-Department ought to have given reason – It washighly improper for the appellant to reject the candidature of thethird respondent outright in the absence of a proper appreciationof the certificate – There has been utter carelessness on partof the appellant in not producing the Amendment Rules and thegazette notification before the tribunal – Third respondent cannotsuffer for such carelessness and should be given what is due tohim – He has been discriminated against and arbitrarily deprivedof the selection – Furthermore, third respondent has crossed themaximum age for entry into public employment – Appellant beingresponsible for the lis being prolonged in excess of two decades notworth to remand the matter – In view thereof, issuance of directionsto appoint the third respondent, initially on probation on the post ofPostal Assistant, and if no post is vacant, a supernumerary postto be created. [Para 16, 17, 20, 21]Service Law – Appointment – Equivalence of the educationalqualification required for the post – Determination of, by thecourt:Held: It is not the function of the court to determine equivalenceof two qualifications and/or to scrutinise a particular certificateand on the basis thereof, hold that the holder thereof satisfiesthe eligibility criteria and, thus, is qualified for appointment – It isentirely the prerogative of the employer, to decide whether anysuch candidate intending to participate in the selection process iseligible in terms of the statutorily prescribed rules for appointmentand also as to whether he ought to be allowed to participate inthe selection process – When evidence of a sterling quality isproduced before the court which tilts the balance in favour of oneparty, the court could decide either way based on acceptance ofsuch evidence. [Para 14]Constitution of India – Art. 16 – Right to claim publicemployment by the candidate:Held: Candidate has no legal right to claim public employment– Candidate has only a right to be considered therefor – Oncea candidate is declared ineligible to participate in the selectionprocess at the threshold and if he still wishes to participate inthe process perceiving that his candidature has been arbitrarilyrejected, it is for him to work out his remedy – However, if thecandidature is not rejected at the threshold and the candidateis allowed to participate in the selection process and ultimatelyhis name figures in the merit list, though such candidate has noindefeasible right to claim appointment, he does have a limited rightof being accorded fair and non-discriminatory treatment – He hasa reasonable expectation of being appointed having regard to hisposition in the merit list could arise – Employer-State would haveno authority to act in an arbitrary manner and throw the candidateout without rhyme or reason – Law places an obligation, nayduty, on such an employer to provide some justification by wayof reason – If plausible justification is provided, the courts wouldbe loath to question the justification but the justification must berational and justifiable, and not whimsical or capricious, warrantingnon-interference – Arts. 12, 14. [Para 15]
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dipankar Datta
Neutral Citation	2023 INSC 901
Petitioner	Union Of India
Respondent	Uzair Imran & Ors.
SCR	[2023] 13 S.C.R. 1135
Judgement Date	2023-10-11
Case Number	6668

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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