In Brief
Electric supply companies in Telangana conducted separate recruitment tests for Assistant Engineer positions. Many highly-qualified candidates appeared in and were selected by multiple corporations simultaneously. When candidates chose to join only one employer, vacancies arose in the others. The State issued a clarification allowing these vacancies to be filled by operating the merit list downwards. The High Court quashed this, relying on a 1997 government order banning waiting lists. The Supreme Court allowed the appeals, holding that the 1997 order applied only after appointment letters were issued. Since no appointments had been made when the candidates chose their employers, operating the merit list downwards to fill remaining advertised vacancies was valid and necessary to prevent mass vacancies.
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