This Supreme Court judgment reiterates that executive instructions, such as a New Recruitment Policy, cannot override or supplant statutory rules or rules framed under Article 309 of the Constitution. A recruitment process, once commenced under specific statutory rules, cannot be altered midway by executive fiat, as doing so amounts to changing the rules of the game after it has begun and violates principles of fairness and legitimate expectation.
Facts Of The Case:
The State of Tripura initiated a recruitment process for the post of Enrolled Followers in the Tripura State Rifles, conducted strictly under the Tripura State Rifles Act, 1983 and its corresponding Rules. The process, involving advertisements, physical tests, written exams, and interviews, had advanced significantly, with provisional merit lists prepared and character verification underway. Following a change in the state’s political dispensation after assembly elections, the new government issued an Abeyance Memorandum in March 2018, halting all ongoing recruitments for a policy review. This was followed by a New Recruitment Policy (NRP) in June 2018, which, among other changes, sought to abolish interviews for Group-D posts. Consequently, in August 2018, a Cancellation Memorandum was issued, nullifying the ongoing recruitment process for Enrolled Followers to enforce the NRP. Aggrieved candidates challenged this cancellation, arguing that an executive policy cannot override a statutory recruitment process that was nearly complete. The High Court dismissed their petitions, leading to the present appeals before the Supreme Court.
Procedural History:
The procedural history of this case began with the filing of multiple writ petitions before the High Court of Tripura by aggrieved candidates. These petitions challenged the constitutional validity of the Abeyance Memorandum dated 14.03.2018 and the subsequent Cancellation Memorandum dated 20.08.2018, which had halted and then nullified the ongoing recruitment process for Enrolled Followers. The petitioners sought a direction to complete the recruitment process as per the statutory rules. The Division Bench of the High Court, by a common judgment dated 03.10.2019, dismissed all the writ petitions, upholding the state’s policy decision. Aggrieved by this decision, the candidates filed the present civil appeals before the Supreme Court of India, which were heard together and have resulted in the impugned judgment.
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Court Observation:
The Supreme Court observed that the field of recruitment for Enrolled Followers was comprehensively occupied by the statutory Tripura State Rifles Act and Rules. It held that executive instructions, such as the New Recruitment Policy, can only supplement statutory rules where there is a gap or ambiguity; they cannot supplant or override the specific procedure mandated by a statute. Applying this NRP to cancel an ongoing recruitment process that had reached an advanced stage amounted to an arbitrary change of the rules of the game after it had begun, violating the principles of fairness and non-arbitrariness under Article 14 of the Constitution. The Court further noted that the State failed to discharge its burden of proving that this cancellation was in the larger public interest, and the candidates had a legitimate expectation for the process to be completed fairly as per the governing statute.
Final Decision & Judgement:
The Supreme Court allowed the appeals and set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court. Consequently, the Abeyance Memorandum and the Cancellation Memorandum were quashed insofar as they applied to the recruitment process for Enrolled Followers. The Court directed the respondents to finalize and complete the recruitment process by following the provisions of the Tripura State Rifles Act, 1983 and the Tripura State Rifles (Recruitment) Rules, 1984 within a period of two months from the date of the judgment.
Case Details:
Case Title: Partha Das & Ors. vs. The State of Tripura & Ors. (Heard with Sujan Roy & Ors. vs. The State of Tripura & Ors.) Citation: 2025 INSC 1049 Civil Appeal No: Civil Appeal Nos. 4426-4466 of 2023 and 4473-4479 of 2023 Date of Judgement: August 28, 2025 Judges/Justice Name: Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Rajesh Bindal
Download The Judgement Here