‘Absolute’ care in Govt. recruitment process is a must to keep public faith alive: Supreme Court judgment

Supreme Court has highlighted the need for the government to follow “absolute scrupulousness” in the public recruitment process. File
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

The Supreme Court has highlighted the need for the government to follow “absolute scrupulousness” in the public recruitment process. The court said this is mandatory as there are more aspirants for government jobs than there are jobs at any point of time. Hence, there is no room for the slightest error or foul play.

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“In India, the reality is that there are far more takers of government jobs than there are jobs available. Be that as it may, each job which has a clearly delineated entry process – with prescribed examination and/or interview process, has only to be filled in accordance thereof. Absolute scrupulousness in the process being followed instills and further rejuvenates the faith of the public,” a Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Karol observed in a recent judgment.

Any chink in government recruitment processes would amount to a failure in public duty, the Division Bench also comprising Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah indicated.

In fact, Justice Karol, who authored the judgment, found it was the obligation of the government to ensure that only “those who are truly deserving of the positions are the ones who have been installed to such positions”.

The judgment was based on appeals filed by the State of Rajasthan to quash the bail granted by the State High Court to two accused persons booked under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, and sections of the Rajasthan Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2022.

The prosecution case is that one of the accused persons, Indraj Singh, had arranged the other, Salman Khan, to impersonate him and appear in his place for the Assistant Engineer Civil (Autonomous Governance Department) Competitive Examination-2022 conducted by the Rajasthan government.

“Each act, such as the one allegedly committed by the respondents (two accused persons), represent possible chinks in the faith of the people in the public administration and the executive,” the court highlighted repercussions of the offence.

The apex court said the offence had also harmed the thousands of other candidates who appeared for the exam.

“The accused, for their own benefit, tried to compromise the sanctity of the exam, possibly affecting so many of those who would have put in earnest effort to appear in the exam in the hopes of securing a job, we concur with the view of the trial court that they are not entitled to the benefit of bail,” the court explained.

While endorsing the view that a bail once given ought not to be quashed, Justice Karol however noted that the current case deserved a reversal as the offence allegedly committed by the two accused persons had a huge impact on the society as a whole.

“At the same time, it is also true that every person has a presumption of innocence working in their favour till and such time the offence they are charged with, stands proved beyond reasonable doubt. Let them stand trial, and let it be established by the process of law, that the respondent-accused have indeed not committed any crime in law,” the top court observed.