Qualification/ Service Condition Within Exclusive Jurisdiction Of Employer: Allahabad High Court Upholds Recruitment Process Of IIT-Kanpur

Recently, the Allahabad High Court upheld the recruitment process adopted by IIT-Kanpur for the post Executive Engineer as no challenge to the parent IIT Rules, 2018 was made by the appellant. Meanwhile, the post of Director of the institute was taken over by Senior-most Professor, who acting as Officiating Director, published an Appellant filed a writ petition seeking quashing of the aforesaid Verdict in Special Appeal Regarding the provisions of the IT Act, 1961, the Court observed that Section 13 entrusts the Board of IIT-Kanpur with powers and responsibilities of general superintendence, direction and control of the affairs of the institute as also all the other powers which have not been provided elsewhere in the Act, Statutes and Ordinances. The Court framed 2 issues: whether the Court could judicially review qualification prescribed by the employer for direct recruitment or for promotion and whether in absence of challenge to the Rules/Regulations adopted and enacted by the Competent Authority, the Court could deal with challenge to the recruitment process under the Rules. Accordingly, the Court held that since the appellant had not challenged the Rules providing for the recruitment process, the consequential recruitment process cannot be interfered with by the Court.