Govt Cannot Scrap Recruitment On 'Illusory Grounds': Jammu Kashmir Court Rules In Engineer Hiring Case

Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has ruled that a recruitment process cannot be scrapped solely on a procedural lapse if there is no evidence of malpractice, calling such a justification “illusory” and legally unsustainable.

In a 10-page judgement, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal dismissed two intra-court appeals filed by the Union Territory administration. The appeals challenged an earlier single-judge ruling that had quashed the cancellation of a recruitment process for engineering posts in the Jammu and Kashmir Energy Development Agency.

The appellants were the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and its officials, represented by Deputy Advocate General Bikramdeep Singh and Senior Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli along with assisting counsel.

The respondents included Sameer Ahmad Khan and others in one appeal, and Sharan Gupta and others in the connected matter. They were represented by advocates Mian Tufail, M. Saleem Parray, and senior advocate Abhinav Sharma with his team.

The dispute arose from recruitment advertisements issued in September 2017 for 77 posts of assistant engineers and junior engineers across disciplines. The selection process included a written examination conducted by a private agency, M/s LM Energy and Software Private Limited.

The government cancelled the recruitment in December 2019. The sole reason cited was that the agency conducting the examination had been engaged without issuing a Request for Proposal or Expression of Interest. According to the administration, this compromised transparency as other agencies were not given an opportunity to participate.

The writ court had set aside this cancellation and directed the authorities to complete the selection process within four weeks. The administration challenged that decision before the Division Bench. The High Court upheld the writ court’s order and rejected the government’s appeal.

The bench noted that the cancellation order was based only on a “technical omission” in the engagement of the agency and did not point to any irregularity in the conduct of the examination or the merit of candidates. “The cause projected for cancellation of the recruitment process… is illusory in nature,” the court said.

It stressed that while candidates do not have an absolute right to appointment, the state cannot act arbitrarily in abandoning a recruitment process, especially when it has reached an advanced stage.

The bench found, “The written examinations had already been conducted, there were no allegations of fraud, malpractice or incompetence against the agency, and the cancellation order cited no substantive illegality affecting the fairness of the selection.”

In such circumstances, the court held that scrapping the entire process was unjustified. The bench made a significant observation on procedural defects. It said that failure to follow a competitive process in selecting the agency may be an irregularity, but it does not automatically invalidate the entire recruitment unless it affects the integrity of the selection.

“A mere procedural omission… can hardly be considered a ‘cogent’ ground for cancelling a selection process that has reached an advanced stage,” the judgement said.

The administration also argued that after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, new reservation categories such as Economically Weaker Sections and Pahari-Speaking People were introduced, making continuation of the old process unfair.

The court rejected this argument. It said the cancellation order did not mention this ground, and authorities cannot later add new reasons to justify an earlier decision. Citing settled law, the bench said an administrative order must stand on the reasons stated in it and cannot be supplemented later through arguments in court.

The court dismissed both appeals, including the connected Srinagar wing case, and upheld the direction to complete the recruitment process.

It found “no reason to show indulgence” and ruled that the government’s decision lacked merit. The judgement has also clarified an important legal principle, “...procedural lapses in administration cannot override fairness to candidates when the selection process itself remains untainted.”

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