Delhi High Court: A Division Bench of Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna, JJ.* noted that the appointment to the post of Sepoy Pharma in Indian Army was last made in 2019 and the last date of applying for the post of Sepoy Pharma for the year 2023 was 15-3-2023, therefore, the Court directed the respondents to issue a Corrigendum declaring age relaxation of two years as a ‘one time measure’ and extending the date of inviting applications for the post of Sepoy Pharma in Indian Army.
Background
The Respondent 2, Indian Army had notified an advertisement inviting online applications from male candidates for selection test for Soldier Technical, Nursing Assistant/Nursing Assistant Veterinary and Sepoy Pharma intake for the recruitment year from 16-2-2023 till 15-3-2023. The petitioners herein were aspirants for recruitment to the post of Sepoy Pharma in Indian Army in different zones and claimed to have the requisite qualification for the said post, however, were overaged to apply for this recruitment drive. Therefore, the petitioners filed the present petition seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to allow upper age relaxation of three years to the petitioners to enable them to apply to the post of Sepoy Pharma.
Submissions on behalf of the Petitioners
The petitioners submitted that the last drive to fill up the post of Sepoy Pharma was undertaken in 2019. Thereafter, an advertisement was notified on 1-2-2021 for 2020-2021 recruitment to the said post for different zones and many of the petitioners had applied for the same. However, the recruitment for this post was cancelled. Thereafter, another advertisement was notified by the respondents on 14-7-2021, but the recruitment process was postponed, and nothing was notified in this respect. The petitioners claimed that after three years, the advertisement dated 16-2-2023 had been notified inviting applications to the post of Sepoy Pharma and the upper age limit prescribed for the said post was 19 to 25 years. The petitioners submitted that arbitrarily no recruitment drive had been conducted by the respondents and now, petitioners had become over aged and turned ineligible to apply for the post of Sepoy Pharma.
The petitioners also submitted that that the respondents had provided two years age relaxation on account of Covid-19 to the other posts in the Indian Army, such as, Junior Commissioned Officer (Religious Teacher) RRT Courses, Army Recruitment Rally for Soldier Technical Nursing Assistant & Nursing Assistant Veterinary and Agniveers in Agnipath Scheme.
Submissions on behalf of the Respondents
It was submitted that due to Covid-19, the recruitment drive had to be deferred from time to time and in respect of advertisement dated 16-2-2023, the current age of applicants had to be considered and the petitioners did not apply for other posts which were advertised in 2022, therefore, the present petition should be dismissed.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court noted that the appointment to the post of Sepoy Pharma in Indian Army was last made in 2019 and appointments to the post of Sepoy Pharma in Indian Army for 2020, 2021 and 2022 had not been made and the respondents had even failed to post these vacancies on the National Career Services in a timely manner, as had been mandated by the Department of Personnel and Training (“DoPT”).
The Court relied on High Court of Delhi v. Devina Sharma, (2022) 4 SCC 643, wherein the Supreme Court held that “the candidates who would have qualified for the examinations were they to be held on schedule for recruitment years 2020 and 2021 in terms of the rules as they then stood, may be permitted to appear for the ensuing examinations”. The Court also relied on Sachin v. Central Reserve Police Force, W.P.(C) No. 90 of 2023, wherein relaxation was provided to the upper age limit of candidates to appear in the examination for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) conducted by the CRPF after a lapse of approximately six years.
The Court opined that the petitioners herein, who had been aspiring to join Indian Army on the post of Sepoy Pharma but had not been able to pursue their dreams due to non-advertisement of the vacancies and had turned over aged, in the interest of justice could not be deprived to appear in the examination if they fulfilled other eligibility criteria.
The Court noted that the last date of applying for the post of Sepoy Pharma was 15-3-2023, therefore, the Court directed the respondents to issue a Corrigendum declaring age relaxation of two years as a ‘one time measure’ and extend the date of inviting applications for the post of Sepoy Pharma in Indian Army.
[Nitish Kumar v. Union of India, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 1542, decided on 14-3-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioners: Advocate Ajay Garg;
Advocate Tripti Gola;
Advocate Lhingdeihat Chongloi;
Advocate Arvind Sardana;
For the Respondents: Central Government Standing Counsel Shivalakshmi;
Advocate Ridhima Malhotra;
Advocate Srishti Rawat;
Advocate Avshreya Pratap Singh Rudy.
*Judgment authored by: Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna.
