Summary
An IPS officer of the 2004 batch allocated to the Tamil Nadu cadre sought re-allocation, years later, to a Rajasthan 'insider' vacancy declined by the two candidates above him in merit. The Court refused, holding that cadre allocation must attain finality and cannot be reopened down the merit list after many years.
Issues
- Whether an officer who was third in merit for a 2004 'insider' vacancy could claim it because the two candidates above him did not take it up.
- Whether cadre allocation made more than two decades earlier could be reopened on such a claim raised six years after the selection.
Held
- The appellant did not allege any illegality by the Ministry of Home Affairs in allocating cadres according to his merit position; his claim rested only on the fact that the candidates above him did not accept the Rajasthan 'insider' vacancy, and it was first raised in 2010, six years after the 2004 selection. (¶ 11)
- Offering an unaccepted vacancy successively to the next candidate in merit, as the appellant sought, cannot be permitted, because it would keep allocation and change of cadres fluid indefinitely and could set off claims by candidates lower in the list and affect other 'insider' appointments. Finality must attach to the selection process. (¶ 12)
- The appellant, by then serving in Tamil Nadu for more than two decades after more than 20 later selections, produced no material showing that the 2004 'insider' vacancy in Rajasthan had remained unfilled. (¶¶ 10, 12)
Result
Appeals dismissed; orders of the High Court upholding the Tribunal's dismissal of the appellant's original application affirmed; pending applications disposed of.