DHJS 2024: Delhi High Court Refuses To Modify Cut Off Date For Candidates' Age
Nupur Thapliyal
10 Jan 2025 8:30 PM IST
The Delhi High Court has refused to modify the criteria according to which candidates appearing in Delhi Higher Judicial Services (DHJS) 2024 examination must have attained the age of 35 years on January 01, 2024.
A division bench comprising Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Amit Mahajan rejected the plea filed by a candidate, Shweta Chowdhery, who challenged the one of the conditions mentioned in the public notice issued on December 27 last year by the High Court stipulating January 01, 2024 as the date by which the candidates had to have attained the age of 35.
Chowdhery had sought that the condition be modified to the extent of making January 01, 2025 or, in the alternative, January 10, 2025 as the cut-off date by which the candidates had to have attained the age of 35.
The Court observed that it is “humanly impossible” to fix a cut-off date which would satisfy everybody.
“This is especially because – at the cost of reiteration – there is no legal principle to the effect that the cut-off date for the purposes of determining whether the candidate has attained the minimum age for eligibility must coincide with the last date for submission of applications,” the Court said.
It added that fixing of a cut off date by which candidates would have had to attain the minimum age is permissible as well as advisable to impart certainty to the selection process.
The Bench also said that there is no known principle that the cut off date must coincide with the last date for submission of applications.
“….the Court would not interfere with the cut off date fixed by the administrative authorities unless it is totally capricious, whimsical or arbitrary,” the Court said.
It added: “….any cut off date, when fixed, would impact those who do not attain the requisite age, or eligibility, by then. This unavoidable hardship cannot render the fixation of the cut off date itself arbitrary.”
Title: SHWETA CHOWDHERY v. HONBLE HIGH COURT OF DELHI THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR GENERAL