Employer has sole prerogative to fill up vacancies: High Court
Srinagar, Oct 16: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh Thursday held that the decision to fill up vacant posts lies solely with the “employer” and the candidates participating in the selection process cannot compel the authority to fill all vacancies.
A bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal said this while dismissing as “misconceived” a plea that had challenged the Central Administrative Tribunal’s decision. The Tribunal had rejected the aggrieved candidates’ contention over their non-selection as constables in the Jammu and Kashmir State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
The selection process was initiated through an advertisement notification in 2012, and the final select list was issued in 2019
In their plea, the aggrieved candidates contended that the number of vacancies was not mentioned in the advertisement notification dated 24.08.2012 and the subsequent notification dated 27.04.2017 was not published in the local newspapers.
The further contention of the candidates was that in keeping with the information they had received under RTI Act, 516 posts were required to be advertised but only 355 posts of SDRF constables were notified.
“This contention cannot form a basis either for quashing the select list or for directing the official respondents to appoint the petitioners as it is the sole prerogative of the employer to fill up a particular number of vacancies as per the requirement of the department and a candidate cannot dictate the employer to fill all the vacancies”, the court said while dismissing the petition filed by 14 out of the 52 candidates against the CAT’s decision of 2023.
“Otherwise also, in the response filed by the official respondents, it is stated that the posts are to be filled up on the basis of vacancies available at the relevant point of time,” the court said, adding, “a candidate cannot dictate the employer to fill all the vacancies”.
The petitioners had also raised other grounds of challenge but the court said that the Tribunal’s order was in accordance with law. “There is hardly any reason for us to interfere with the same,” the court said and dismissed the petition.
Pointing out that the aggrieved candidates would have never approached the court had they found their names figuring in the select list, the court said: “The petitioners after having participated in the selection process without any demur, after remaining unsuccessful in the selection process, cannot challenge the selection of successful candidates”.
The court noted that the official respondents have also denied the assertion of the aggrieved candidates that no promise for recruitment of 850 candidates each for Jammu and Kashmir province was made with them. “Otherwise also, the recruitments are not to be made in respect of posts on the verbal promise of any department, even if any such promise is made”.
The contentions raised by the petitioners in this regard could not be entertained after they participated in the selection process, more particularly, when their stand is belied by the official respondents, the court said.
In response to the contention that there were discrepancies in recording the measurement of height and chest of the petitioners, the court said: “The official respondents in their response have categorically stated that the measurement of physical standard of candidates was got executed through digital methods and after taking printouts of the measurements of height and chest of the candidates, the same were signed by the respective candidates”.
This ground too has been raised only for the purpose of raising an issue without any foundation, as such, this contention is also not sustainable in law, the court noted.
