Category: Service

Service Matters

Civil Services — Tenure Curtailment — Not Punitive Unless Stigmatic — Curtailment of tenure and reversion to a lower post is not punitive or stigmatic merely because it is premature or based on unsatisfactory performance reports, as long as the order itself does not impute misconduct or stigma beyond unsuitability for the role.

2026 INSC 427 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SADACHARI SINGH TOMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul M. Pancholi, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Service Law — Regularisation of Service — Daily Wage Employees — The Supreme Court held that a scheme formulated by the respondents, which contemplated engagement on a temporary basis, was at variance with the Tribunal’s directions for engagement on a permanent footing — The Court set aside the scheme and directed the regularisation of services for the appellants with permanent status.

2026 INSC 431 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH R. IYYAPPAN AND OTHERS Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. ) Civil…

Service Matters

Dispute over cadre change versus mere transfer — A transfer is a change of posting within the same service without altering seniority or substantive status, differing from a cadre change which involves a structural shift between services with significant implications for seniority and promotional avenues, requiring specific authority.

2026 INSC 404 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH RAJENDRA SINGH BORA Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Sanjay Karol and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, JJ. ) Civil…

Service Matters

Recruitment Rules and Advertisement — Essential Qualifications — Work Experience — In absence of a specific rule or advertisement provision, a recruiting agency cannot relax essential eligibility criteria by treating a higher qualification as a replacement for a mandatory essential qualification — A preference for a higher qualification operates only for eligible and meritorious candidates and does not override or supplant the primary requirement of essential eligibility.

2026 INSC 391 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH HIMAKSHI Vs. RAHUL VERMA AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ. ) Civil Appeal No. 5942…

Service Matters

Public Employment — Recruitment — Medical Unfitness — Suppression of Material Facts — A candidate found medically unfit for a post, specifically for knock knees, cannot retain an appointment if this vital fact was suppressed, especially when the initial appointment and subsequent reinstatement were based on either flawed processes or non-disclosure of disqualifying conditions — The principle of “fraud unravels everything” applies, and an appointment vitiated by the suppression of a disqualifying medical condition cannot be sustained.

2026 INSC 394 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND OTHERS Vs. AJAY KUMAR MALIK ( Before : Ahsanuddin Amanullah and N. V. Anjaria, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Regularisation of contractual/ad hoc employees — Notifications dated 16.06.2014 and 18.06.2014, which sought to regularise the services of Group ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’ employees were found to be valid as they aimed to provide benefits to employees left out from a previous regularisation policy and had clear criteria for eligibility such as working on sanctioned posts and possessing necessary qualifications.

2026 INSC 379 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MADAN SINGH AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS ( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkarm, JJ.…

Service Matters

Air Force Act, 1950 — Section 19 — Air Force Rules, 1969 — Rule 16 — Administrative action after discharge from criminal court — Initiation of administrative action for disciplinary purposes is not permissible if the matter has already been decided by a criminal court by way of discharge, as discharge signifies no sufficient grounds for proceeding, placing the individual on a better footing than acquittal and thus ending the matter.

2026 INSC 366 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH EX. SQN. LDR. R. SOOD Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Dipankar Datta and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Uttar Pradesh Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 1981 — Rule 4 — Sanction of Governor for award — Extraordinary pension award requires sanction of the Governor, who exercises administrative discretion based on the rules — The Supreme Court held that the authority on whom the power to take a decision is conferred should be the one to take it, especially when the rules enumerate the considerations — The Court would be slow to substitute its own decision unless the authority has refused to decide or the decision is arbitrary — In such cases, a direction to the authority to decide afresh would be more appropriate than the Court substituting its own decision.

2026 INSC 337 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH THE STATE OF UTTARAKHAND Vs. SARITA SINGH AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K.Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

Service Matters

Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Economically Weaker Sections) Act, 2020 — Advertisement dated 15.12.2021 for 9212 posts of Health Worker (Female) — Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservation — Clause 8.3 of advertisement requiring candidates to submit EWS certificate issued till the last date of application or advertisement — Prescribed proforma requires certificate to be for the financial year preceding the year of application — Certificates submitted by appellants were not in respect of the correct financial year or were issued before the closure of the relevant financial year — Certificates thus invalid for claiming EWS reservation — High Court rightly dismissed the claim — Appeals dismissed.

2026 INSC 351 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH POONAM DWIVEDI AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF U.P. AND OTHERS ( Before : Manoj Misra and Prasanna B. Varale, JJ. )…

Contitution of India — Articles 14 & 16 — Equality in employment — Denial of promotion on discriminatory grounds — Appellant denied promotion despite long service, experience, and possessing a qualification that was accepted for similarly situated employees — High Court Division Bench erroneously set aside Single Judge’s order granting relief, creating contradiction in reasoning by first stating discretion lies with Board of Directors and then upholding Registrar’s refusal — Supreme Court allowed appeal, finding non-acceptance of promotion unsustainable and a violation of equality principles.

2026 INSC 353 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KAMAL PRASAD DUBEY Vs. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS ( Before : Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria, JJ.…

You missed