Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has held that the decision to fill vacant posts lies solely with the employer, emphasizing that candidates cannot compel it to fill all vacancies.

A bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal made the observations while upholding decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal, which had dismissed an application filed by 52 applicants challenging their non-selection as constables in the Jammu and Kashmir State Disaster Response Force. The recruitment was advertised in 2012, and the final select list was issued in 2019

The candidates had contended that as per the information obtained under Right to Information Act, 516 number of posts were required to be advertised but instead of doing so, the authorities notified only 355 posts of SDRF Constables.

“This contention...cannot form a basis either for quashing the select list or for directing the official respondents (authorities) to appoint the petitioners as it is the sole prerogative of the employer to fill up a particular number of vacancies as per the requirement of the department,” the court said while dismissing an appeal filed by 14 out of the 52 candidates against the CAT's decision in 2023.

“A candidate cannot dictate the employer to fill all the vacancies. Otherwise also, in the response filed by the official respondents, it is stated that the posts are to be filled up on the basis of vacancies available at the relevant point of time.” The petitioners had also raised grounds of challenge but the court said that the Tribunal has passed the order impugned in accordance with law.“There is hardly any reason for us to interfere with the same,” the court said and dismissed the petition as being“misconceived”.

MENAFN16102025000215011059ID1110209087