Delhi High Court Directs CRPF To Grant Age Relaxation Of 3 Years As ‘One Time Measure’ For Recruitment Of Head Constables (Ministerial)

The Delhi High Court has ordered that there will be age relaxation of three years in the upper age limit as a “one time measure” for candidates intending to apply for the posts of Head Constable (Ministerial) in CRPF 2022 examination. An advertisement for the posts was issued on December 27 last year.

A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna has directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Central Government to issue a Corrigendum on or before January 25, the last date of applying to the post in question and also to extend the date of inviting applications.

The court took note of Rule 9 of Central Reserve Police Force Act, 1949 which gives power to the Central Government to relax the rules if it is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do.

“… when Rule 9 of CRPF grants the power to relax the Rules wherever necessary, in the interest of justice, we find that relaxation of three years in the upper age limit can be given to the candidates who wish to apply pursuant to the advertisement in question,” the bench said.

The court was hearing two pleas filed by various candidates seeking relaxation of the upper age limit for appearing in the CRPF 2022 examination for Head Constable (Ministerial) post.

The age limit of candidates prescribed was from 18 to 25 years as on the closing date of receipt of application i.e. January 25, meaning that a candidate should not born before January 26, 1998 or after January 25, 2005.

It was the case of the petitioners that the CRPF had issued a detailed advertisement in 2016 for filling-up 686 vacancies for direct recruitment to the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) but the petitioner candidates could not be selected. Thereafter, after a period of six years on December 27 last year, an advertisement for filling-up vacancies was issued.

It was argued that the age limit of the candidates prescribed for the posts is from 18 to 25 years but since no recruitment was conducted for last 5 to 6 years, the petitioners have become over-aged and crossed the maximum prescribed age limit of 25 years, thus becoming ineligible to apply for the examination.

The counsel representing the petitioners argued that the main reason for them being age barred is the fact that the CRPF did not conduct any examination for recruitment to the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) for the year 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The counsel appearing for Central Government submitted that due to unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Home Affairs vide letter dated July 26, 2022 granted three years age relaxation beyond prescribed upper age limit for all categories of candidates as a “One-Time Measure” to all categories candidates for the recruitment of Constable (GD) in CAPFs, SSF and Rifleman(GD), Assam Rifles Examination 2022 and 2023.

It was submitted that if the age relaxation is granted as per the said order, the age limit for the post of Head Constable (M) will be raised from 25 years to 28 years for General candidates, from 25 years to 31 years for OBC candidates and from 25 years to 33 years for SC or ST candidates.

The court was also told that since there was no superannuation between 2019 and 2021, therefore, no vacancies against the retirement for the said period fell out. The last recruitment for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) was conducted in the year 2016 and completed in September, 2017, the central government counsel said.

The court in the judgement said that CRPF, for the reasons best known to it, has been avoiding recruitment process since 2017 for the appointment to the post of Head Constable (Ministerial).

The court also said that while it is conscious of the fact that during the period 2019 to 2020, the appointments in government departments and organisations were put to hold, it cannot ignore the fact that all such departments have been fully functional since 2021

“Even despite directions of this Court vide order dated 08.03.2022 in WP(C) No.3874/2022, the respondents did not commence recruitment process. It is only when the petitioners therein approached this Court in contempt proceedings, the respondents have now published vacancies for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) in the year 2022 after a lapse of six years,” the court said.

The court observed that the petitioner candidates and other similarly situated personnel cannot be deprived of the right to appear in the examination, in view of the fact that such candidates have been deprived to seek recruitment in CRPF for no fault of theirs, due to non-conduct of examination and in view of the fact that after 2016 till 2022, no examination for the post in question was held.

“At this juncture, we do not hesitate to observe that the lethargy and delay in publishing the vacancies for the recruitment to the said post, after a lapse of six years, has curtailed the future prospects of candidates like the petitioners who are willing and striving for appointment in Forces,” the court said.

Title: SACHIN & ORS. v. CENTRAL RESERVE POLICE FORCE & ANR.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 70

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