Recruitment must follow the rules prevailing at commencement; subsequent rules cannot retrospectively alter pending selections.

The District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education), Purulia (“DI”) granted prior permission on 2 April 2008 to fill a Group-D post in the school.

The school thereafter requisitioned candidates from the Employment Exchange, received sponsorship, issued an open advertisement, conducted the interview on 11 August 2009, and placed the petitioner in the panel of successful candidates. The Managing Committee forwarded the panel to the DI for approval on 26 August 2009.

The panel remained unapproved, and the DI ultimately rejected it by order dated 17 April 2017.

The DI relied principally on the coming into force of the West Bengal School Service Commission (Selection of Persons for Appointment to the Post of Non-Teaching Staff) Rules, 2009 on 9 July 2009, contending that the interview and panel had been prepared after the 2005 Rules were superseded.

Whether a selection process initiated under the West Bengal Schools (Recruitment of Non-Teaching Staff) Rules, 2005 could be governed retrospectively by the 2009 Rules merely because the interview and preparation of the panel occurred after 9 July 2009

Whether the school’s failure to make the Employment Exchange requisition within the prescribed period of the prior permission rendered the subsequent recruitment process void or incapable of approval

Whether the petitioner was entitled to approval of appointment and consequential service benefits

The Court applied the West Bengal Schools (Recruitment of Non-Teaching Staff) Rules, 2005, as the governing framework for recruitment processes commenced under those Rules, and considered the West Bengal School Service Commission (Selection of Persons for Appointment to the Post of Non-Teaching Staff) Rules, 2009, which came into force on 9 July 2009.

It relied on the Constitution Bench decision in Tej Prakash Pathak v. Rajasthan High Court, 2024 INSC 847, which reaffirmed the “rules of the game” principle: recruitment conditions applicable at the commencement of the process cannot ordinarily be altered midway, absent express statutory or advertisement-based authority, and any alteration must satisfy Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

The Court also relied on K. Manjusree v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (2008) 3 SCC 512, holding that selection criteria cannot be changed after commencement of the selection process.

Further, a procedural time-limit does not automatically render a recruitment process void unless the governing provision expressly or by necessary implication attaches such a consequence.

The Court held that the recruitment process commenced under the 2005 Rules because prior permission had been granted, candidates had been requisitioned and sponsored, and, most importantly, the advertisement had been published before the 2009 Rules came into force.

The fact that the interview took place on 11 August 2009 did not shift the process into the 2009 regime; applying the later Rules at that stage would impermissibly change the governing conditions after candidates had entered the selection process.

The Director’s subsequent instruction dated 25 June 2010 could not retrospectively impose the 2009 Rules or override the legal position applicable when the process commenced.

As to the 88-day delay in requisitioning candidates, the Court found no provision making the delay fatal, no revocation of the prior permission, and no demonstrated prejudice, fraud, manipulation, or impact on eligibility or merit.

Treating the delay as nullifying the entire process would therefore impose a disproportionate consequence unsupported by the Rules.

The petitioner was held eligible for approval of appointment as Group-D staff, and the DI was directed to grant approval with notional effect from 26 August 2009, the date on which the panel was forwarded for approval.

The DI was further directed to fix the petitioner’s pay and extend permissible benefits relating to increments, promotion, and other service entitlements from that date.