Illegal Delegation By Interview Committee Renders Entire Recruitment Void; No Selective Relief In Tainted Selection Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that when the entire selection process for a recruitment is tainted, there cannot be a policy of pick and choose of certain candidates, as delegation of powers by the Interview Committee to subordinate officers is impermissible in law, and renders the entire selection process invalid. The Court observed that where a Government Resolution prescribes that an act must be performed by specific designated officers, substitution of their representatives is not legally permissible and amounts to vitiation of the process. A Division Bench of Justice Anil S. Kilor and Justice Rajnish R. Vyas was hearing two writ petitions filed by the candidates selected for the post of Police Patil in Bhandara District. The petitioners had challenged the judgment of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT), which had upheld the cancellation of their appointments on grounds of irregularities in the interview process. The selection process, initiated in March 2023, involved written and oral examinations, and the petitioners were appointed in April 2023. However, following complaints from unsuccessful candidates alleging manipulation in the interviews, an inquiry was conducted by the Additional Collector, leading to the cancellation of the entire recruitment process. The Court noted that there is no dispute up to the stage of the written examination and declaration of the result of the written examination. Allegations of unfairness crops from the stage of conducting oral interviews and the constitution of the Committee which conducted the oral interviews. The Court observed that the Government Resolution dated 23 August 2011 specifically required the Interview Committee to consist of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, the Social Welfare Officer, the Tribal Project Officer, and the Tahsildar. However, the inquiry revealed that most of these members had delegated their powers to subordinate officials such as Police Inspectors, Social Welfare Inspectors, and Office Superintendents, who conducted the interviews in their place. The Court held that such delegation was impermissible, as the rules permitted delegation only by the District Magistrate and not by other members of the Committee. “The Constitution of the Interview Committee was fundamentally defective due to the delegation of powers, which was impermissible, and thus the entire process is vitiated,” the Court observed. The Court further found that the interview process was arbitrary and inconsistent, with members using different systems of marking, some awarding numerical marks and others using a star system. The Court highlighted that almost all the unsuccessful candidates, who were parties in Original Application and parties before this Court, secured more marks in written test than successful candidates selected as Police Patil. “When entire selection process is tainted, there cannot be pick and choose policy of certain candidates. The integrity of the selection process is full of doubts, and the thus entire selection process is required to be set aside,” the Court observed. Accordingly, the Court upheld the Tribunal's order, dismissed the writ petitions, and extended the interim relief in favour of the petitioners for four weeks. Case Title: Ashish Yashwant Harde & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. [Writ Petition Nos. 4360 & 4361 of 2025]Click Here To Read/Download Order

Illegal Delegation By Interview Committee Renders Entire Recruitment Void; No Selective Relief In Tainted Selection Bombay High Court

Saksham Vaishya

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