$~20 & 21 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 1467/2019 NANCY SHARMA & ORS .....Petitioners Through: Ms. Samriddhi Tiwari & Mr. Prason Kumar, Advs.

versus RECRUITMENT CELL, RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT & ANR .....Respondents Through: Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Mr.

Mrinmayee Sahu, Mr. Raghav Tandon, Mr. Tribhuvan & Mr.

Abhimanyu, Advs. for R-1.

Mr. Bhagwan Swarup Shukla, ,CGSC with Mr. Mukesh Kumar Pandey, and Mr. Jiniya Saha, Advocates for UOI.

21 + W.P.(C) 12917/2021, CM APPL. 40696/2021 & CM APPL.

64376/2023 PRANAV LUTHRA .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Sriparna Chatterjee, Mr.

Soumitra Chatterjee & Mr. Manish, Advs.

Mr. Mir Akhtar Hussain and Ms.

Sonia Goswami, Advocates.

versus RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT AND ANR. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Mr.

Mrinmayee Sahu, Mr. Raghav Tandon, Mr. Tribhuvan & Mr.

Abhimanyu, Advs. for R-1.

Mr. Bhagwan Swarup Shukla, ,CGSC with Mr. Mukesh Kumar Pandey, and Mr. Jiniya Saha, Advocates for UOI.

Ms. Nidhi Raman, CGSC with Mr. Nikunj Bindal, Advocate for R-2/

UOI.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA

O R D E R

% 11.02.2026

1. These petitions arise from recruitment process initiated by the Recruitment Cell, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, through Advertisement No. 1/2016, inviting applications for 13 vacancies for the post of “Junior Proof Reader” (subsequently redesignated as “Proof Reader”). The petition [W.P.(C) 1467/2019] is by candidates who participated in the selection process but were not included in the list of candidates recommended for appointment, published on 1^st February, 2019. The second petition [W.P.(C) 12917/2021] is by a candidate whose name appears in that recommended list, but who has not received an offer of appointment and challenges the subsequent cancellation of the advertised vacancies by notice dated 9^th September, 2021.

2. Since the recruitment, the interim orders, and the later cancellation pertain to the same set of vacancies and the same selection process, the petitions are being decided by a common order.

Facts in brief

3. Advertisement No. 1/2016 notified 13 vacancies (07 UR, 03 OBC, 02 SC, 01 ST) for the post of Junior Proof Reader. The essential eligibility prescribed in the advertisement was: (i) Bachelor’s degree with English or Hindi as a subject; and (ii) either a Diploma in Printing Technology / P.G. Diploma in Book Publishing (AICTE approved) or 3 years’ experience in a salaried post in a printing press/publishing house involving proofreading duties. A computer certificate was mentioned as desirable.

4. The recruitment culminated in a result notice dated 1^st February, 2019, publishing a list of candidates recommended for appointment.

5. The first set of Petitioners claim that despite securing marks higher than some of the recommended candidates, their names were not included. The Secretariat, on the other hand, states that while scrutinising documents before finalising the result, it was found that these Petitioners did not satisfy the essential requirement of a Bachelor’s degree “with English or Hindi as a subject”, since their degrees reflected only two papers relating to English in the first and second semesters and not English/Hindi as a subject in the manner contemplated by the advertisement.

6. On 13^th February, 2019, while issuing notice in W.P.(C) 1467/2019, an interim direction was issued restraining the Respondents from giving effect to the provisional/recommended list published pursuant to Advertisement No. 1/2016. By order dated 29^th July, 2022, the interim direction was made absolute and continued to operate during pendency. In consequence, no appointment under the 1^st February, 2019 list could be made.

7. While the petitions remained pending, the Secretariat issued a notice dated 9^th September, 2021 cancelling the advertised vacancies for the post of Junior Proof Reader (Advt. No. 1/2016), stating that the competent authority had cancelled the vacancies “due to administrative reasons”, and that the recommendation of candidates throu