IMPORTANT POINT
In a case where appointments are made by selection from a number of eligible candidates it is open to the employer (Government) with a view to maintain high-standards of competence to fix a score which is much higher than the one required for mere eligibility. Fixation of a benchmark for the purposes of selection to a post is permissible in law.

Judgment :-

A.K. Sikri, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Counsel for the parties were heard at length on the issue involved in these cases. We now proceed to decide the same by this order.

3. Matter pertains to appointment to the post of Deputy Director (Law) in the Other Backward Class (OBC Category). Appointments to the vacancies in the aforesaid post were to be made in the office of Competition Commission of India (CCI). The three appellants in these three appeals were also the candidates who appeared in the written test. After qualifying the written test, they also faced the interview. However, their names did not appear in the list of candidates finally selected. According to the appellants, their non-selection was the result of altering the prescribed mode of selection -mid-way i.e. after the initiation of recruitment process which was impermissible. This contention has not found favour with either the learned Single Judge in the Writ Petitions filed by them or the Division Bench of the High Court in the appeals filed by them challenging the order of the learned Single Judge. Bone of contention, before us also, remains the same. Therefore, the issue which needs to be decided is as to whether there was any change in the mode of selection after the process of selection had started.

4. Seminal facts which are necessitated to understand the controversy are recapitulated herein below.

5. CCI had issued the notification through public notice dated 11th November, 2009 inviting applications for various posts. We are concerned with the post of Deputy Director (Law) for which 13 vacancies were notified - 9 were in General category, 1 in SC Category and 3 posts were reserved for OBC category. Clause 7 of the notification stipulated the mode of selection in the following manner:

“7. Mode of Selection

All the applications received by the due date will be screened with reference to the minimum qualification criteria. From amongst the eligible candidates, suitable candidates will be short listed through a transparent mechanism and the short listed candidates will be called for interview before final selection. Mere fulfilling of minimum qualifications by itself would not entitle any applicant for being called for interview.”

6. The eligibility / qualification /experience required for this post was also provided in the advertisement. It is undisputed that the appellants fulfilled the eligibility condition, being holder of degree of Bachelor of Law (Professional) as well as 3 years’ experience in the relevant field including in the Corporate Sector. Written test for this post was held on 14th February, 2010 for short listing of candidates for interview. Admit card was also issued to the appellants for appearing in the written test along with the detailed instructions including the scheme of examination. Paragraphs 4 and 9 of the Instruction which were given to the examinees/candidates are relevant for our purposes and therefore we reproduce the same hereunder:

“4. The selection to all the positions advertised will be based on a written test followed by an interview. The written test will carry 80% of the marks and interview will have 20% of the marks.

The written test will be in two parts. The first part will be based on multiple choice questions for 50 marks. There is no negative marking in this multiple choice questions. The second part carrying 30 marks will be distributed to the descriptive questions on the subject of your specialization within the broad outline of the subject of specialization as indicated in the advertisement.

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9. Candidates who do not secure 50% of the marks in the test will not be called for the interview. However, for candidates belonging to the reserved categories, the cut off marks will be 40% of the total marks.”

7. Written examination was of 80 marks and the appellants secured more than 50% marks therein. They were called for the interview which was held on 19th March 2010 and the result of which was p