Autonomous body employees are ineligible for age relaxation available to government servants or departmental candidates in direct recruitment.

The ten applicants applied for the post of Teacher (Primary) in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) under Post Code 1/18

Seeking age relaxation, the applicants approached the Central Administrative Tribunal to prevent the respondents from rejecting their candidatures on the grounds of being over-age and to be considered based on their merit positions

The applicants sought to be treated as eligible for the age concessions typically afforded to departmental candidates or government servants

Whether employees of an autonomous body, such as the Municipal Corporation, are entitled to age relaxation as "Government Servants" or "Departmental Candidates" for the purpose of direct recruitment to the post of Teacher (Primary)?

The Tribunal relied on the legal principles established by the Supreme Court in Seema Kapoor, which clarified that age relaxation is strictly permissible only for civil employees of the Central Government and "Departmental Candidates" working within the specific department concerned

The court applied the Government of India Circular dated 27.03.2012, which explicitly excludes employees of autonomous bodies, public sector undertakings, and statutory corporations from the ambit of age relaxation benefits reserved for government servants

The Tribunal analyzed the applicants' status in light of the Seema Kapoor precedent.

It observed that since the MCD is an autonomous body established under a specific statute, its employees do not qualify as "government servants"

Furthermore, the Tribunal noted that the term "Departmental Candidates" refers only to those working in the specific department (Education) for which the recruitment is being conducted

The Tribunal reasoned that even if a recruitment rule provides a promotion channel for internal candidates, such a provision does not entitle those candidates to age relaxation when applying via the direct recruitment quota

Consequently, as the applicants were employees of an autonomous body and not civil employees of the government, they were found ineligible for the requested relaxation

The Original Application (OA) was dismissed as being devoid of merit

No order was made as to costs