Eligibility criteria for recruitment positions must be strictly adhered to, and employment status significantly impacts qualification assessment under employer-defined guidelines.

JUDGMENT :

PRATEEK JALAN, J.

1. This is the third writ petition filed by the present petitioner with regard to his application for the post of Protocol Officer in the respondent- Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited [“IREDA”], pursuant to an advertisement issued in the year 2022.

A. THE CONTROVERSY

2. The post in question was that of Protocol Officer/Technical Assistant/Officer on Special Duty [E-0 Level on regular basis], for which the following educational/professional qualifications and post-qualification experience were provided in the advertisement:

3. As further elaborated below, the petitioner first challenged the qualifications mentioned in the Advertisement, but the controversy in the present case is as to whether he was eligible for the said post in terms of the advertised eligibility qualifications. In response to an administrative grievance raised by the petitioner, IREDA has stated its position in a communication dated 16.07.2022 addressed to him. As far as the post of Protocol Officer is concerned, it was stated as follows:

“3. Case II (Rejection of your application by IREDA for the post of Protocol Officer):

IREDA's Reply: As per the specifications advertised by IREDA for the post of Protocol Officer, the candidates presently holding supervisory posts in S-1 level (IREDA pay scale of Rs. 28000-3%- 75000 and above or equivalent) in Government/ Public Sector Undertakings were eligible to apply. You were engaged by manpower agency and not working for Government/ Public Sector Undertakings. You were not meeting the eligibility criteria and therefore, your application was rejected. Hence, the allegation made by you is false and baseless.”

4. It is the petitioner’s submission that he holds a degree of Bachelor of Commerce [“B.Com”] from Delhi University and a five-year postgraduate qualification as a Cost Accountant from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

5. The petitioner asserts that he also has the requisite experience of ten years, having worked for nine years as a Cost Accountant in IREDA itself and for six years prior to that in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation [“DMRC”], which is also a PSU. It is the admitted position that his services in DMRC and IREDA were through a manpower outsourcing agency. However, the petitioner contends that his deployment in IREDA was pursuant to interview with IREDA officers directly, and in terms of its own internal procedures and practices.

B. LITIGATION HISTORY

6. The petitioner first approached this Court challenging the recruitment by way of W.P.(C) 6884/2022. The writ petition was dismissed by judgment dated 15.12.2023, holding that the petitioner had challenged the recruitment process but not the recruitment policy, and that having applied under the advertisement in question, the petitioner was not entitled to challenge the procedure. The Court also recorded as follows:

“50. It may also be noted by this Court that the petitioner having applied under the post of E-0 level, does not possess the essential requirements such as the 10 years of post-qualifying experience in order for his candidature to be consider