Recruitment and Appointment

Prafulla kumar Swain v Prakash C. Misra, 1993

Recruitment is an initial process which culminates in
appointment, it connotes and signifies enlistment,
acceptance, selection or approval for appointment,
Appointment means an actual act of posting a person
to a particular post
Gurudev Singh Gill v State of Punjab, 1968
Basanth Lal Malhotra v State of Punjab, 1969
• Usually recruitments are policy decisions of the govt. and it is not
amenable to judicial review unless the same is arbitrary(State of Orissa
v Bhikari Charan Khuntia,2003)
• Recruitments rules are not obligatory for appointments (Ramesh Prasad
Sigh v State of Bihar, 1978)
• Existence of a recruitment rule is not condition precedent for appointing
an eligible and fit person to the post. The legislative power is
coexistence with executive power of the state and under Article 162 the
State could create civil posts and fill them up according to executive
instructions consistent with Art. 14 & 16(J&K PSC v Dr. Narinder
Madan,1994)
• So it is beyond controversy that appointments may be either by
executive instructions or by statutory rules
• Compliance with rules:
• J&K PSC case
• It is also well settled that once Recruitment Rules are made, the appointment has to
be in accordance with the rules.
• The power of relaxation conferred by the rules cannot be exercised in a manner
inconsistent with the provisions of the rule.
• Recruitment made in violation of statutory rules does not confer any constitutional
right, and rectification of the mistake by removing all who had been so recruited
does not attract Arts. 14,16 or 311 Bheru Singh v State of M.P, (1987).
• The appointments will be ineffective if the power to make the appointment is under
suspension.
• Rules must be constitutionally or otherwise valid, eg a special rule providing that SC
candidates need not undergo selection process is discriminatory and not protected
under Art16(4) or Art. 335 of the constitution.(Delhi Judicial services Assn v Delhi
High Court (2001))
• Nature of appointment
• It’s a wide amplitude.
• It includes power to make an interim appointment or not to make
appointment.
• Conditions of regular appointment
• Rule is relevant for making regular appointments.
• Amendment of rules during the pendency of recruitment process will
result in the vacancies being determined according to the amended rules.
• Existence of vacancies or posts are condition precedent for regular
appointment.
• Whether a particular vacancy or what number vacancies will be filled is a
managerial function depending upon administrative necessity.
• Similarly the govt. need not immediately notify vacancies as soon as they
arise.
• It is open to the authorities to reduce the vacancies both during and after
the declaration of results of recruitment process. This follows from the
principle that government is not bound to fill up vacancies even if
selection is made. ( UPSC v Gourav Dwivedi, 1999)