The court was hearing a case where a meritorious candidate was overlooked for an unqualified one for a role as a driver in J&K Sports Council in 2014.

The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Monday held that an employer cannot abandon an interview selection process arbitrarily without any reasonable cause. 

Speaking for thousands of employees who apply for the job posts, the court said that government recruitment is a time-consuming process.

“If they qualify the written test, they may have again to appear for an interview and medical examination and travel again and those, who are successful and are declared to have qualified, have a reasonable expectation that they will be appointed and no doubt this is not a vested right, yet the employer or the State has to give justifiable non-arbitrary reasons for not offering such successful qualified candidates’ appointment, the court said.

The court was hearing a case where a meritorious candidate was overlooked for an unqualified one for a role as a driver in J&K Sports Council in 2014. The court directed the Council to offer the appointment to the candidate with incidental benefits as per the terms of the appointment.