Rajasthan High Court| Vacancy caused due to resignation of selected candidate must be readvertised and filled up by fresh selection

Rajasthan High Court: In a challenge to the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jaipur Bench¹, which had dismissed the original application of the petitioner praying for his appointment for a post vacant after the previous candidate’s resignation, the division bench of Pankaj Mithal, C.J. and Shubha Mehta, J., upheld the order of the Tribunal stating that the vacancy advertised stood exhausted with the appointment of a candidate, and the petitioner thus, is not entitled to the appointment on the post so advertised.

The petitioner had applied for the post of Gramin Dak Sevak Mail Dispatcher² advertised by the respondents in 2010 and the process of selection was accordingly completed and finalised in 2 months whereby a candidate was selected on the basis of 73% marks obtained by him in secondary examination. The said candidate who had joined the services, subsequently resigned.

The petitioner accordingly sought direction for his appointment for the GDSMD post, alleging that the same is vacant after the previous candidate’s resignation and that the said candidate was illegally appointed.

The Tribunal had dismissed the original application of the petitioner on the ground that once the post advertised, after the selection process was completed has been filled up and the selected candidate had joined, no other person from the select list can be appointed, as the select list stands exhausted, as soon as the selected candidate was appointed. In the subsequent event, if the selected candidate tendered his resignation resulting into fresh vacancy, the same has to be filled up by fresh selection on re-advertisement.

Thus, the Court upheld the order of the Tribunal concurring with its view that the vacancy caused due to the resignation of the selected candidate, who maybe illegally selected, has to be readvertised and has to be filled up by fresh selection, thus dismissing the writ petition.

[Sumer Singh v. Union of India, Civil Writ Petition No. 14472 of 2022, decided on 21-12-2022]

Advocate who appeared in this case :

For the Petitioner- Advocate Mukesh Kumar Agarwal;