Summary
Uttar Pradesh recruited 3,587 Gram Panchayat Adhikaris through the U.P. Subordinate Services Selection Commission under the 2015 Group 'C' Rules, using a written examination and interview. Unselected candidates claimed the posts left vacant by selected candidates who did not join. They relied on the 25% enlarged list under Rule 15(4) of the 1978 Service Rules, and the Allahabad High Court Division Bench agreed. The Supreme Court restored the Single Judge's dismissal of their petitions. The later 2015 Rules, made under the 2014 Act with an overriding clause, are inconsistent with the 1978 Rules and prevail. Candidates who took part under the 2015 process cannot invoke parts of the old rules. Neither set of rules provides a waiting list, so unfilled posts are carried forward.
Issues
- Whether vacancies left unfilled by selected Gram Panchayat Adhikaris who did not join must be offered to unselected candidates on the basis of Rule 15(4) of the U.P. Gram Panchayat Adhikari Service Rules, 1978, where recruitment was conducted by the Commission under the 2015 Rules.
- Whether the later general 2015 Rules override the earlier special 1978 Rules.
Provisions considered
- Rules 1, 2 and 8(2), Uttar Pradesh Direct Recruitment to Group 'C' Posts (Mode and Procedure) Rules, 2015With an overriding clause and recruitment by written examination and interview through the Commission, the Rules require only a merit list to be sent to the appointing authority and provide no waiting list. (¶¶ 13, 23, 25)
- Rule 15(4), Uttar Pradesh Gram Panchayat Adhikari Service Rules, 1978The list larger by up to 25% than the vacancies only facilitates filling the vacancies and is not a waiting list for later non-joining; once the vacancies are filled the door closes. (¶¶ 8, 9, 24)
- Section 15, Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission Act, 2014The Act entrusts the entire process of Group 'C' recruitment, including examinations and interviews, to the Commission and overrides conflicting rules. (¶¶ 11, 12, 26)
Held
- The candidates who willingly took the written examination and interview under the 2015 Rules, a process unknown to the 1978 Rules, are estopped from questioning it (Anupal Singh) and cannot approbate and reprobate by invoking part of the 1978 Rules while accepting the 2015 Rules (Union of India v. N. Murugesan). (¶¶ 20, 21, 22, 23)
- Since the two sets of rules differ in the mode of selection and the recruiting authority and cannot co-exist, the later 2015 Rules, though general, prevail over the earlier special 1978 Rules under the tests in Ajoy Kumar Banerjee; the 2016 amendment of the 1978 Rules was only clarificatory. (¶¶ 26, 27)
- The Government Order of 15.11.1999 allows a waiting list only for selection to a single post, not a single-cadre post; absent a rule requiring a waiting list, unsuccessful candidates have no vested right to vacancies left by non-joining (Vallampati Sathish Babu), and K. Manjusree does not apply to changes in selection process rather than eligibility. (¶¶ 28, 30, 32)
- The High Court decided without considering the governing provisions and failed to address the grounds raised in review, the scope of which in Article 226 proceedings is to be viewed more broadly. (¶¶ 25, 33)
Result
Civil Appeal Nos. 8822-8823 of 2022 allowed without costs; the Allahabad High Court judgments dated 09.08.2018 in Special Appeal No. 911 of 2018 and 30.10.2019 in the review application set aside and the Single Judge's order restored.