Discretionary relaxation or alteration in requisite eligibility qualification, relating to appointments or admissions, cannot be allowed at the fag end of the process, the Delhi high court has said.
"The general rule is that while applying for a post or admission a person must possess the eligibility qualification on the last date fixed unless there is an express provision to the contrary. There can be no relaxation in the matter of holding the requisite eligibility qualification by the date fixed," Justice Sunil Gaur observed.
The court's observation came in a verdict on the plea of Raghunath Prasad Saket, who was not only denied appointment to the post of lecturer in Economics in a Delhi University (DU) college but another candidate was preferred over him following the alteration in the eligibility criteria.
Justice Gaur noted that the DU and the University Grants Commission had taken the consistent stand that appointment of Madhavi Moni to the post by a committee of Satawati College was irregular and violative of the rules.
According to the eligibility criteria for appointment as a lecturer, the candidate should possess a certificate of qualifying the National Eligibility Test (NET).
However, the criteria was changed at the time of appointment of Moni by the committee which recommended her name for the post on probation, giving her liberty to submit the certificate at a later stage.Saket, aggrieved by the decision of the committee, moved the high court saying appointment of Moni was illegal, contrary to UGC regulations and had sought direction for his appointment.
The contention of the college that Moni was the best candidate for the post was rejected by the court which held that the appointment was void and could not be sustained because she was not having the requisite eligibility.
It, however, observed "under normal circumstances the recommendation of the committee can not be challenged except on the grounds of malafide and serious violation of rules".
"It is true that selections cannot be faulted with, while sitting in writ jurisdiction but the eligibility of the selected candidate certainly can be gone into," the court said while directing the college to finalise the selection to the post within eight weeks.
