The Court cannot interfere with the age limits prescribed in the Recruitment Rules by the employer unless it is so arbitrary that no prudent employer would have envisaged the same and included it in the Recruitment Rules and the same has been fixed without any rational basis and is manifestly unreasonable.

JUDGMENT

Ajay Mohan Goel, J. - By way of this writ petition, the petitioners have prayed for the following reliefs:

"(i) That the impugned Advertisement dated 24.04.2021, Annexure P-1 where the petitioners have been debarred to apply and appear in the examination may kindly be quashed and set aside and petitioners may very kindly be allowed to apply and appear in the present examination.

(ii) That the respondents may kindly be directed to produce the entire record pertaining to the eligibility criteria about the age limit as prescribed by the respondent for the various posts for kind perusal of this Hon'ble Court qua the different age criteria for entrance test for recruitment of Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales).

(iii) Any other order which this Hon'ble Court may deems fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may kindly be passed in favour of the applicants."

2. The case of the petitioners is that vide Advertisement dated 27.04.2021 (Annexure P-1), online applications were invited by the respondent-Bank for recruitment of eligible candidates against the posts of Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales). The dates for online registration of application and payment of fees, as mentioned in the Advertisement, were between 27.04.2021 to 17.05.2021, which the Court stands informed, were subsequently extended on account of COVID-19 pandemic. In all, around 5000 posts were advertised, including about 180 posts for various branches of the respondent-Bank in the State of Himachal Pradesh. The eligibility criteria prescribed in the advertisement was that a candidate ought to be not below the age of 20 years and not above 28 years as on 01.04.2021. The Court is purposely not referring to the other eligibility criterion mentioned in the Advertisement, because the age limit is the only bone of contention, as far as the grievance of the present petitioners is concerned. Their grievance in fact is that the fixation of maximum age limit for recruitment against the post of Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales), as is reflected in the Advertisement, Annexure P-1, is arbitrary, which is borne out from the fact that the same Bank while issuing Advertisements against the posts of Pharmacist in Clerical Cadre as also Probationary Officers, has fixed the upper age limit as 30 years. Annexure P-2 appended with the petition is the Advertisement issued for recruitment of Pharmacist in Clerical Cadre and Annexure P-3 is the Advertisement issued by the respondentBank for recruitment of Probationary Officers.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the petitioners are eligible to participate in the process of selection to the post in issue, as they possess the necessary educational qualifications, but they have been debarred from participating in the process on the basis of an arbitrary and irrational age criteria, which has been provided for in the advertisement. He has further submitted that the prescribed age is arbitrary, is further borne out from the fact that the respondent-Bank cannot be permitted to have different age brackets for recruitment of Clerical Cadres in the Bank, may be under different nomenclatures. On these basis, the petitioners have prayed for the reliefs already enumerated hereinabove.

4. The stand of the respondents is that the fixation of age for recruitment of Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales), as is provided in the Advertisement is in consonance with the Rules, which govern the recruitment to the posts in issue. It is mentioned in the reply that as per the Bank Recruitment Policy, the minimum age for recruitment to the post in issue is 20 years and maximum age is 28 years, as on the cut off date. It is the stand of the respondent-Bank that the selection age criteria for the post of Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales) is same and similar, as is prescribed in other Nationalized Banks in the Country and posts of Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales) cannot