The Rajasthan High Court has held that the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board (RSSB) cannot retrospectively apply an order permanently debarring candidates from future examinations to deny them appointment in a recruitment process that had already concluded before the debarment order was passed. The Court observed that such retrospective application would unlawfully take away the accrued rights of selected candidates and violate principles of fairness and natural justice.
Justice Kuldeep Mathur was dealing with a batch of writ petitions filed by candidates who had participated in the Physical Training Instructor (PTI) Recruitment-2022. The petitioners had earlier been denied appointment in the PTI Recruitment-2018 after the B.P.Ed. degrees submitted by them were found to be non-genuine during document verification. However, no criminal or departmental proceedings were initiated against them, nor was any order debarring them from future recruitments passed at that stage. Subsequently, the petitioners obtained fresh B.P.Ed. degrees from universities recognised by the UGC, successfully participated in the 2022 recruitment process, and secured places in the merit list.
The dispute arose after the Directorate of Secondary Education informed the RSSB that the petitioners should not be considered for appointment because of the earlier incident. Acting on this communication, the RSSB issued an order on 9 April 2024 permanently debarring the petitioners from appearing in future examinations and relied upon that order to deny them appointment under the 2022 recruitment.
The High Court held that the debarment order was issued after the recruitment process had already concluded and therefore could not be given retrospective effect. It observed that while the authorities possess statutory power to permanently debar candidates found to have used forged documents, such power cannot be exercised to deprive candidates of rights that had already accrued through an earlier recruitment process.
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The Court further found that the order of debarment had not been communicated to the petitioners and had been passed without following the mandatory procedure prescribed under the Rajasthan Educational (State and Subordinate) Service Rules, 2021 and the Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board Regulations, 2016, including affording the candidates an opportunity of hearing. The Court emphasised that even in cases involving forged documents, compliance with statutory procedure and principles of natural justice is indispensable.
Observing that the authorities had been aware of the alleged use of fake degrees since 2020 but failed to take timely action, the Court held that they could not later retrospectively invalidate the petitioners’ participation in the 2022 recruitment. It clarified that if the petitioners possess valid educational qualifications obtained from recognised universities, their candidature for the 2022 recruitment must be considered in accordance with law, subject to verification of those qualifications.
