Chennai CAT Dismisses 19 Waitlisted Candidates’ Bid For Puducherry Police Jobs, As All 390 Notified Vacancies Were Filled

The applicants challenged Notification No. 237/Estt.I(B)/Rectt/PC/2022 dated 26 November 2022, seeking to have posts of Police Constable kept reserved for them and to be appointed pursuant to the notification dated 22 March 2022

The respondents stated that none of the applicants was in the provisional select list; they were in the provisional wait list

The applicants argued that 20 selected candidates had not joined and that the resulting vacancies should be filled from the wait list.

The respondents replied that a Recruitment Committee had considered the next eligible candidates from that list, none of the applicants was selected, and all 390 notified vacancies had been filled

1. Whether the applicants, as candidates on the provisional wait list, were entitled to appointment against vacancies said to have arisen when 20 candidates did not join

2. Whether the challenged notification should be set aside and the respondents directed to reserve posts for, and appoint, the applicants

The order does not cite any statute, regulation, precedent, or express legal test.

The Tribunal’s decision rests on the respondents’ stated recruitment facts: the applicants were waitlisted rather than included in the provisional select list; the Recruitment Committee considered candidates from the wait list; and all 390 notified vacancies had been filled

The Tribunal recorded the parties’ competing positions but did not separately analyse a statutory or precedential rule governing wait-list appointments.

It relied on the respondents’ submission that none of the applicants figured in the select list and that no notified vacancy remained available after the recruitment process

On that basis, it did not grant the requested direction to reserve posts or appoint the applicants.

and made no order as to costs.