Inclusion in an extra or waiting list creates no appointment right absent a mandatory recruitment rule.

The North Western Railway issued GDCE Notification No. 02/2015 dated 12.06.2015 for various posts, including 38 Assistant Station Master vacancies—20 UR, 6 SC, 3 ST and 9 OBC.

The applicants, belonging to the SC category, appeared in the written examination and aptitude test and were included in a list of 20 candidates described as “50% Extra” candidates called for document verification, alongside the main list of 38 candidates.

After document verification, a final panel was prepared on 27.02.2017; the applicants were not included in that final panel.

Two selected SC candidates could not be appointed because one did not report and another was found medically unfit. The General Manager requested a replacement panel, but the Railway Recruitment Cell refused, stating that replacement panels could not be supplied for GDCE selections.

The applicants challenged that refusal and sought appointment against the two unfilled SC vacancies.

1. Whether inclusion of the applicants in the 50% Extra list prepared for document verification created a right to appointment against vacancies arising from non-joining or medical unfitness of selected candidates.

2. Whether the respondents were legally required to prepare and operate a replacement or waiting panel for the two unfilled SC vacancies of Assistant Station Master.

3. Whether the Railway Board guidelines dated 08/15.12.2015, barring replacement panels where a common examination was held for posts carrying different grade pays, were arbitrary or legally invalid.

The Tribunal applied the principle that mere inclusion in a select, additional or waiting list does not confer an indefeasible right to appointment, and that an employer is not ordinarily bound to fill every advertised vacancy unless a mandatory statutory or recruitment-rule obligation exists.

Relying on Shankarsan Dash v. Union of India, (1991) 3 SCC 47, the Tribunal held that selection does not by itself create an enforceable right to appointment.

It also relied on Subha B. Nair v. State of Kerala, (2008) 7 SCC 210, and K. Thulaseedharan v. Kerala State Public Service Commission, (2007) 6 SCC 190, for the principle that the decision whether to fill existing vacancies lies within the employer’s discretion absent arbitrariness or discrimination.

The Tribunal further applied State of Karnataka v. Bharathi S., AIR 2023 SC 2792, holding that a duty to appoint candidates from an additional or waiting list arises only where a mandatory rule so requires.

The Railway Board guidelines dated 08/15.12.2015 permitted refusal of a replacement panel where a common examination covered posts carrying different grade pays, because the candidates in an extra list might not be comparable in merit across different posts.

The Tribunal distinguished the applicants’ inclusion in the 50% Extra list from placement in a final waiting or replacement panel. That list was issued only to facilitate document verification at an intermediate stage; the applicants remained provisional and were not declared selected after completion of the recruitment process.

Since their names did not appear in the final panel prepared after document verification, they acquired no right to appointment against the vacancies caused by non-joining or medical unfitness.

Further, no mandatory rule required the respondents to fill those vacancies from an additional list.

On the contrary, the Railway Board guidelines applicable to the common GDCE examination for posts carrying different grade pays supported the respondents’ refusal to prepare a replacement panel.

The Tribunal found that the guidelines represented a rational administrative policy and were neither arbitrary nor illegal.

The respondents were not legally obliged to issue a replacement panel for the two unfilled SC vacancies, and the applicable Railway Board guidelines were validly applied.

The Original Application was therefore dismissed on merits; pending miscellaneous applications, if any, were also disposed of, with no order as to costs.