Category: Service

Service Matters

Recruitment Rules — Interpretation of — Anganwadi Workers applying for Supervisor posts — Eligibility and quota for graduates vs. SSLC holders — Amendment to rules increasing quota for Anganwadi Workers and earmarking a portion for graduates — Whether graduates are excluded from the general quota for Anganwadi Workers with SSLC and 10 years’ experience — Supreme Court held that the amendment did not exclude graduate Anganwadi Workers from applying for the 29% vacancies available to Anganwadi Workers with SSLC and 10 years’ experience — The 11% quota for graduates was carved out from the open recruitment quota, not from the existing quota for Anganwadi Workers with SSLC and experience — The selection process did not give any weightage to graduates, and the number of non-graduates selected indicated a level playing field.

2026 INSC 242 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SHINY C.J. AND OTHERS Vs. SHALINI SREENIVASAN AND OHTERS ( Before : Sanjay Kumar and K. Vinod Chandran, JJ. ) Civil…

Service Matters

Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 — Section 3(b) — Exclusion of employees appointed on academic arrangement basis from regularization — Classification held unconstitutional — Section 3(b) lacks intelligible differentia and rational nexus to the object of the Act — Denial of regularization solely based on nomenclature is impermissible under Article 14 of the Constitution where duties, tenure, and conditions of service are similar to ad hoc or contractual appointees.

2026 INSC 220 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH ABHISHEK SHARMA Vs. THE STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND OTHERS ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Police Recruitment — Criminal Antecedents — Suitability for Appointment — A candidate with criminal antecedents, even if acquitted by giving benefit of doubt, can be deemed unsuitable for police service by the screening committee, as the employer has the right to assess character and integrity for a disciplined force.

2026 INSC 225 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS Vs. RAJKUMAR YADAV ( Before : Ahsanuddin Amanullah and N.V. Anjaria, JJ. ) Civil…

Service Matters

Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Service Regulations, 1967 — Regulations 10(9), 87, and 97 — Seniority of direct recruits — Determination of date of appointment — A person is considered on ‘duty’ when performing duties of a post or undergoing probation or training — Appointed to a class of service when discharging duties or commencing probation or training — Seniority is determined by rank in the approved list; probation starts from joining duty — Training is part of service, not a reason to exclude it from seniority calculation. — Division Bench misinterpreted Regulations by stating seniority commences from probation start date — Appeals allowed, High Court judgment set aside.

2026 INSC 229 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH M. THANIGIVELU AND OTHERS Vs. TAMIL NADU ELECTRICITY BOARD AND OTHERS ( Before : Rajesh Bindal and Vijay Bishnoi, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act) — Disability — Mental Illness and Specific Learning Disability — Post of Auditor in CAG — Identified as not suitable for persons with benchmark disabilities suffering from mental illness, but later identified as suitable for Group C posts of Assistant (Audit) and Auditor-II through Notification dated 4th January, 2021 — Court directs accommodation in suitable Group C posts.

2026 INSC 232 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SUDHANSHU KARDAM Vs. COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. )…

Service Matters

Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 311(2) second proviso (b) — Dismissal from service without departmental inquiry — Requirement of reasonable practicability — Mere presumption or belief by disciplinary authority not sufficient — Must be based on objective facts and material on record. Article 311(2) second proviso (b) — Dispensing with departmental inquiry — Decision of disciplinary authority not binding on courts; subject to judicial review — Reasons for dispensing must be plausible and based on definite material.

2026 INSC 234 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MANOHAR LAL Vs. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

Service Matters

Kerala Technical Education Service (Amendment) Rules, 2004 — Rule 6A — Exemption from PhD requirement — Rule 6A(i) and (ii) — Validity — Supreme Court judgment in Christy James Jose v. State of Kerala (2016) held appointments not contrary to AICTE qualifications and Special Rule 6-A(2) in tune with AICTE Notification dated 18-2-2003 — AICTE Regulations on qualifications are binding on State Rules to the extent of repugnancy — Rule 6A had no application after 05-03-2010 when AICTE issued new regulations mandating PhD for promotion to Professor, Associate Professor, and Principal posts.

2026 INSC 207 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DR. JIJI K.S. AND OTHERS Vs. SHIBU K AND OTHERS ( Before : Dipankar Datta and Aravind Kumar, JJ. ) Civil…

Service Matters

Service Law — Regularisation of Services — Casual Workers — Supreme Court held that casual workers who were similarly situated to those whose services had been regularised in previous judgments, should also have their services regularised. The Court noted that the work performed was perennial and fundamental to the functioning of the department, and that excluding these workers amounted to discrimination.

2026 INSC 156 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PAWAN KUMAR AND OTHERS Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ. )…

Service Matters

University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026 — Clause 3(c) defining “Caste-based Discrimination” — Incorporation argued as restrictive and exclusionary — Claim that it renders individuals from non-reserved/general classes remediless against caste-based discrimination or institutional bias — Allegation that regulations proceed on unfounded presumption that caste-based discrimination only affects reserved categories.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MRITUNJAY TIWARI Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER ( Before : Surya Kant, C.J. and Joymalya Bagchi, J. ) Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 101/2026 with…

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