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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
PRATEEK JALAN
Pramiti Basu – Appellant
Versus
Secretary General Supreme Court Of India – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
PRATEEK JALAN, J.
1. The petitioners in these writ petitions are all candidates for appointment to the post of Junior Court Assistant [“JCA”] in the respondent-Supreme Court of India, pursuant to an advertisement dated 04.02.2025. They are aggrieved by a notification dated 14.07.2025, by which results of the Typing Speed Test stage of the recruitment process were declared. The petitioners’ grievance is that they have been excluded from the next stage of recruitment [Descriptive Test], despite having been declared as qualified in the Typing Speed Test.
2. As the petitions are predicated on virtually identical grounds, they were taken up for hearing together. W.P.(C) 11007/2025 was treated as the lead case. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties, the pleadings filed therein have been considered in respect of all the petitions.
A. FACTS
3. The respondent advertised 241 vacancies for the post of JCA on 04.02.2025. The present dispute concerns the “Scheme of Examination” provided in the advertisement, which is reproduced below:
“Scheme of Examination
The eligible candidates will have to appear in the tests in the following subject:-
| 1. | Objective Type Question paper with | |
The court reaffirmed that qualifying and shortlisting criteria can be distinct, allowing administrative discretion in recruitment processes as long as they are transparently and reasonably applied.
Eligibility criteria for recruitment cannot be altered after the process has commenced, ensuring fairness and adherence to constitutional principles.
Introduction of new benchmarks in a selection process is permissible if justified by public interest and does not prejudice candidates, despite the general principle against changing rules mid-proces....
Introduction of new benchmarks in a selection process is permissible if justified by public interest and does not prejudice candidates.
The introduction of a minimum marks benchmark in a selection process is permissible if justified by public interest and does not cause prejudice to candidates.
If there are no rules providing for shortlisting, nor any mention of it in the advertisement calling for applications for the post, the Selection Committee can resort to a short listing procedure if ....
Appointment of clerical cadre and Stenographer – Eligibility criteria - Since there is no cut off marks, an incumbent therefore, cannot be adjudged as ineligible as merit list is drawn on basis of ag....
The term 'written test' prescribed in the Recruitment Rules cannot connote only a descriptive test, as alleged by the Petitioner. It can also include an objective test based on Multiple Choice Questi....
The court affirmed the authority to modify recruitment procedures under established rules, recognizing urgency and valid administrative discretion despite changes in selection criteria.
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