A candidate granted a second chance after disqualification cannot claim seniority in the original select list.

The petitioner participated in the recruitment process for appointment as Police Constable pursuant to the 2018 Recruitment Notification. After clearing the written examination, she appeared for the Physical Standard Test and Physical Efficiency Test conducted between 19 January and 11 February 2022. Although she cleared the 200-metre race, she was disqualified in the long-jump event on 8 February 2022, and a rejection slip was issued to her.

The petitioner challenged her disqualification before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which granted her an interim opportunity to participate in the physical tests again. She cleared the tests in her second attempt. The CAT subsequently directed the respondents to appoint her as Police Constable, and the department implemented that order. She completed her training and received a posting order.

The petitioner thereafter sought correction of her seniority in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and inclusion in the first select list published on 22 March 2022, contending that she had participated in the recruitment process initiated in 2018. The CAT rejected the claim in its order dated 9 February 2024 in O.A. No. 93 of 2022. The petitioner challenged that order before the Madras High Court.

Whether the petitioner, having initially been disqualified in the long-jump event and thereafter permitted by the CAT to participate in a subsequent physical test, was entitled to inclusion in the first select list published on 22 March 2022 and to corresponding seniority in the OBC category?

Whether the CAT’s order dated 9 February 2024 rejecting the petitioner’s claim regarding seniority was liable to be quashed on the ground that she had participated in the recruitment process pursuant to the 2018 notification?

Whether the writ petition was liable to be dismissed on the ground of delay and laches, particularly after the petitioner had accepted appointment, completed training, and obtained posting?

The Court applied the principle that a candidate who was disqualified in the prescribed selection process and was subsequently permitted, as a concession pursuant to an interim judicial order, to participate in a later physical test cannot claim all consequential benefits attached to candidates selected in the original selection list.

The Court further applied the doctrine of delay and laches, holding that a belated challenge to seniority is particularly untenable after the candidate has accepted appointment, completed training, and received posting.

The Court also treated the petitioner’s appointment pursuant to the CAT’s direction and her inclusion in the select list resulting from the subsequent opportunity as determinative of her placement in the later selection process.

No specific statutory provision or judicial precedent was cited in the judgment.

The Court held that the petitioner’s original candidature did not result in selection because she was disqualified in the long-jump event during the physical test.

Her subsequent participation was not a continuation of a successfully completed original selection process but an additional opportunity granted by the CAT as a concession, notwithstanding her initial failure.

Since she was appointed only after clearing the second physical test and was included in the select list associated with that process, she could not claim the further benefit of being placed in the first select list or being assigned seniority alongside candidates selected in the original process.

The Court also noted that the department had already implemented the CAT’s order, and that the petitioner had completed training and obtained posting; these circumstances reinforced the objection of delay and laches against reopening her seniority.

It held that the petitioner was not entitled to inclusion in the first select list published on 22 March 2022 or to correction of her OBC-category seniority, since her appointment followed a second opportunity granted after her initial disqualification.

No costs were awarded.