Varre Sai Pranav Sudhanshu vs Union Of India & Anr. on 30 August, 2024
22. The question that arises in the present case is whether the issues
involved herein can be regarded as relating to the examination conducted
by the UPSC. This question emerges in the context that there is no
challenge to the examination conducted in 2006. Insofar as the 2005
examinations are concerned, that is over. And, the petitioner does not
stake any claim in respect thereof because he could not complete that
examination as a result of circumstances beyond his control. By way of
this petition, the petitioner is seeking a direction from this Court declaring
his appearance in the 2005 examination to be disregarded as an attempt.
The issue here is not so much with regard to the conduct of the
examinations but with regard to the petitioner's eligibility to sit in the
examination. Had it been a matter where the examination itself was in
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01:07:06
question, it would clearly fall within the ratio of the decisions in Pranay
Kumar Soni (supra) and Neeraj Kansal (supra), which in turn followed S.
Tripathi (supra). Here the issue is with regard to eligibility. In my view,
the expression used in Section 14 of the Administrative Tribunals Act,
1985 is not just "recruitment" but "recruitment, and matters concerning
recruitment". Had the expression only been "recruitment", there could
have been some debate as to whether a condition of eligibility was a part
of recruitment. But the expression used in Section 14 is of much wider
amplitude inasmuch as it also refers to "matters concerning recruitment".
An eligibility condition would definitely, in my view, fall within the scope
of this expression. The question in the present writ petition is whether the
petitioner was eligible or not to sit for the 2006 examinations. That is
certainly a matter concerning recruitment.