Supreme Court Judgment | Public Employment
Bihar Junior Engineer Recruitment: Supreme Court Says Entire Selection Process Could Not Be Scrapped
In Shashi Bhushan Prasad Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors., the Supreme Court held that, in the peculiar circumstances of the 2019 Bihar Junior Engineer recruitment, the State could not discard the entire selection process. Instead, the Bihar Technical Service Commission was directed to prepare a revised select list that protected, as far as possible, both already successful candidates and meritorious candidates wrongly excluded solely for want of AICTE recognition of their university.
Supreme Court ruling in brief
The Court did not approve the State's proposal to scrap the entire recruitment exercise. It directed BTSC to proceed with and appropriately revise the fresh select list prepared pursuant to an earlier Patna High Court order.
The revised list was to include, as far as possible, meritorious candidates who were otherwise eligible but had been declared ineligible solely because their institutes or universities were not recognised by AICTE under the 2017 amendment to the Bihar recruitment rules.
Applicable legal framework
The dispute concerned the Bihar Water Resources Department Subordinate Engineering (Civil) Cadre Recruitment Rules, 2015, as amended in 2017, together with Advertisement No. 01/2019 issued by the Bihar Technical Service Commission.
A central issue was whether universities established by law and recognised by the University Grants Commission required separate AICTE approval for technical programmes. The Supreme Court referred to its earlier decision in Bharathidasan University v. AICTE, (2001) 8 SCC 676, which held that a "university" is not a "technical institution" within the meaning of the AICTE Act, 1987 merely because it conducts technical courses.
Recruitment eligibility, however, continues to depend on the precise wording of the applicable statutory rules and recruitment notification. Recognition of an institution or university does not automatically override every post-specific eligibility condition unless that condition itself is legally unsustainable.
Advertisement for 6,379 Junior Engineer vacancies
On 8 March 2019, the Bihar Technical Service Commission invited applications for 6,379 Junior Engineer vacancies across various State departments.
The advertisement prescribed the educational qualification for Junior Engineer (Civil) with reference to diplomas awarded by technical educational councils or universities and incorporated the eligibility language found in the amended recruitment rules.
Why some candidates were declared ineligible
A group of applicants held diplomas from private universities or institutions established by statute and recognised by the University Grants Commission. BTSC nevertheless treated them as ineligible because the institutions did not possess AICTE recognition.
Those candidates approached the Patna High Court and challenged the relevant eligibility rule. They relied, among other things, on the Supreme Court's decision in Bharathidasan University, which distinguished universities from "technical institutions" requiring AICTE approval under the AICTE Act.
Patna High Court proceedings
The High Court allowed the writ petitions and examined the effect of the 2017 amendment to the recruitment rules. Parallel litigation concerning the selection process eventually resulted in a fresh select list being prepared pursuant to an order dated 19 April 2022 in CWJC No. 7312 of 2021.
The dispute before the Supreme Court therefore involved competing interests: candidates who had already succeeded in the recruitment exercise, candidates who had been excluded because of the AICTE condition, and the State's interest in filling thousands of vacant engineering posts.
Why the Supreme Court rejected wholesale cancellation
Key holding: given the prolonged litigation, the large number of vacancies and the existence of a fresh select list prepared under a final High Court order, scrapping the entire recruitment process was not permissible. A revised selection was the more appropriate solution.
The Supreme Court noted that prolonged pendency had already caused a large number of posts to remain vacant, adversely affecting governmental functioning.
Rather than start the process afresh, the Court directed the State and BTSC to work with the existing fresh select list while also accounting, as far as possible, for meritorious candidates who had been excluded solely because of the AICTE-recognition requirement.
The Court sought to balance the rights of already successful candidates with those of otherwise eligible candidates who had been excluded only because of the 2017 AICTE-related eligibility condition.
Directions issued to BTSC and Bihar Government
The Supreme Court directed that the fresh select list be revised in accordance with the Patna High Court order dated 19 April 2022 in CWJC No. 7312 of 2021.
It further directed that, as far as possible, the revised list should include meritorious candidates who were otherwise eligible but had been declared ineligible solely because their institution was not recognised by AICTE, along with similarly placed successful candidates.
BTSC was directed to prepare the revised select list within three months from the date of the Supreme Court judgment, and the State Government was directed to act on that revised list within 30 days thereafter.
Important legal takeaway
The judgment does not establish that every completed recruitment process can never be cancelled. Nor does it hold that every qualification from a UGC-recognised university automatically satisfies every technical recruitment rule.
Its significance lies in the Court's refusal, on these facts, to permit wholesale cancellation where a workable and legally sustainable revised selection could preserve the legitimate interests of both successful and wrongly excluded candidates.
Final order
The batch of civil appeals was disposed of with directions requiring BTSC to prepare the revised select list and the Bihar Government to act upon it within the stipulated time.
Download the judgment
Shashi Bhushan Prasad Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors., 2024 INSC 763, decided on 4 October 2024.
Last reviewed and legally updated: 5 September 2026.