Court upholds tribunal order, says commission must issue show-cause notice before cancelling candidature and banning aspirant
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has sharply criticised the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) for cancelling a candidate’s candidature and barring him from its examinations for three years without first hearing his side.
A bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Nivedita Anil Sharma warned that such action carries consequences far beyond a career setback. Word spreads, the candidate is branded unfair, and the stigma can follow him for life. For a young aspirant, the bench said, it is “almost akin to civil death.”
The case involved a candidate who took the Multi-Tasking Staff Examination in 2016. In September 2017, the SSC cancelled his candidature and imposed the ban, alleging he had helped a neighbouring examinee. The allegation rested solely on an invigilator’s report.
After a tribunal directed the SSC in January to follow natural justice, the commission challenged that order in the High Court. The bench dismissed the petition, holding that a supervisor’s report cannot be treated as gospel and that the candidate deserved a show-cause notice and a hearing.
The court also called the SSC’s appeal unwarranted, noting that compliance would have avoided the litigation altogether.
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