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Supreme Court of India 2023-05-19 allowed

THE STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS vs SMT. BHARATHI S

Bench: 2 — Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha

In Brief

A candidate appearing on a government Additional List (wait list) for Assistant Teacher posts sought appointment after a selected candidate resigned. The state rejected her application because she applied six months after the list's publication, beyond its statutory validity period. The High Court ordered her appointment, finding the state negligent in not notifying her of the vacancy. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that inclusion on a wait list creates no legal right to appointment. The state's discretion to fill vacancies from the list is not mandatory under recruitment rules. The operative life of such lists is determined by statutory periods, not individual candidates' knowledge. The state's discretion, though non-mandatory, must be exercised reasonably and is subject to judicial review.

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