Rules on Public Service Hiring: Essential Rights of Equality

• A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, has ruled that eligibility criteria for public service recruitment cannot be altered midway.
• The criteria for selection must be governed by the fundamental rights of equality and non-discrimination.
• The change must meet the requirements of Articles 14 (right to equality) and 16 (equal opportunity in public employment and non-discrimination) of the Constitution and satisfy the test of non-arbitrariness.
• The state or its instrumentalities cannot arbitrarily deny appointment to a selected candidate.
• The “rules” fall into two categories: one prescribes the eligibility criteria of the candidates and the other stipulates the method and manner of selection from among the eligible candidates.
• The recruitment process must follow the extant rules and adopt a transparent, non-discriminatory, and non-arbitrary procedure.