2021 Delhi Principal Recruitment: Supreme Court Directs UPSC To Accept Experience Between Original & Revised Application Deadlines

The Supreme Court recently directed the Union Public Service Commission to declare the results of candidates who completed ten years of teaching experience before July 29, 2021 for recruitment process of 2021 for 363 posts of Principals in the Directorate of Education, Delhi Government.

A bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi said that if such candidates are found in merit, they must be appointed to the posts that were kept vacant for them.

The Court set aside Delhi High Court's judgment that had approved UPSC's stand of counting ten years of teaching experience only up to May 13, 2021, even though a subsequent advertisement had revised the application deadline July 29, 2021.

“As noted earlier, the UPSC's position is that the eligibility cut-off date in the initial specified advertisement should be followed, as it was reiterated in the detailed advertisement dated 10.07.2021. However, since no reasons have been provided in the note-sheets for retaining the same cut-off date, especially when the detailed advertisement could not be uploaded by UPSC after the initial one, we cannot accept this justification. In our view, candidates who acquired the required ten years of experience between the last date for submitting applications under the initial advertisement and the last date under the subsequent detailed advertisement would be eligible and cannot be disqualified”, the Court said.

The recruitment began with an indicative advertisement issued on April 4, 2021, fixing May 13, 2021 as the last date for applications. It stated that details regarding qualifications and eligibility would be uploaded separately. The detailed advertisement was deferred the next day in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases, and no advertisement remained available on the website.

A detailed advertisement was later issued on July 10, 2021 with the last date to apply being July 29, 2021. Clause 9(b) of this advertisement stated that eligibility “in every respect” would be determined on the closing date for submitting the online application. At the same time, the notice also said that the eligibility conditions in the initial advertisement remained unchanged.

The appellants completed the ten years of teaching experience requirement between May 13 and July 29, 2021. They took part in the written examination and were called for interviews pursuant to interim directions of the Central Administrative Tribunal.

However, their names were later excluded on the ground that they did not possess ten years of experience as on May 13, 2021. UPSC withheld their results and kept 13 seats vacant during the pendency of the proceedings.

On May 15, 2023, the Tribunal directed UPSC to declare their results and proceed in accordance with law. UPSC challenged this before the Delhi High Court, which on November 1, 2023 set aside the Tribunal's order and accepted the Commission's stand that May 13, 2021 was the applicable cut-off. Thus, the appellants approached the Supreme Court.

UPSC filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court annexing two note-sheets dated April 20, 2021 and June 10, 2021. The April 20 note-sheet recorded the decision not to upload the detailed advertisement on the website due to the rise in COVID-19 cases. The June 10 note-sheet directed the reposting of the detailed advertisement and activation of the portal, and stated that candidates be given 20 days to apply with the same eligibility conditions.

The affidavit did not state why eligibility was fixed with reference to May 13, 2021 despite the initial advertisement being deactivated the next day and despite Clause 9(b) of the detailed advertisement fixing eligibility as on July 29, 2021, the Court noted.

The Supreme Court observed that the High Court accepted UPSC's stand even though the necessary material was not before it. The Court opined that there was “no justification” for determining eligibility according to an advertisement that was deactivated the very next day and for which the selection process never commenced.

The Court stated that candidates who completed ten years of experience between May 13, 2021 and July 29, 2021 “would be eligible and cannot be disqualified”.

The Court directed UPSC to declare their results and grant appointments if they are found in merit on the posts already kept vacant for them within two months from the date of uploading of the order.

Case no. – SLP (C) No. 26487 of 2023

Case Title – Kailash Prasad v. Union Public Service Commission & Ors. and connected cases

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 1168

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