HC Asks CRPF To Relax Age Limit By 3 Years As ‘One Time Measure’ For Recruitment Of Head Constables

The Delhi High Court Friday directed the Central Reserve Police Force to relax for three years the upper age limit for candidates who intend to appear in the examination for recruitment of Head Constable (Ministerial) as a "one time measure", while observing there was lethargy on the part of the authorities in publishing the vacancies after a lapse of six years.

The high court said the delay in publishing the vacancies for the post has curtailed the prospects of candidates who are willing and striving for appointment in the forces.

The court was hearing two petitions by prospective candidates seeking a direction to the respondent authorities for relaxation of the upper age limit for appearing in the examination for recruitment of Head Constable (Ministerial) in CRPF-2022 vide advertisement issued on December 27, 2022. The last date for applying for the post is January 25.

“At this juncture, we do not hesitate to observe that the lethargy and delay in publishing the vacancies for the recruitment to the said post, after a lapse of six years, has curtailed the future prospects of candidates like the petitioners who are willing and striving for appointment in Forces,” a bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said.

It said, “In view of aforesaid observations and in the light of the fact that the last date of applying for the said post is January 25, we hereby direct the respondents (CRPF and Central government) to issue a Corrigendum on or before January 25 declaring relaxation of age of 3 years as a ‘one time measure’ and also extending the date of inviting applications for the post in question.”

The age limit of candidates prescribed was from 18 to 25 years as on the closing date of receipt of application, that is, January 25, meaning that a candidate should not be born before January 26, 1998 or after January 25, 2005.

The high court said the candidates like the petitioners have been deprived from seeking recruitment in the CRPF for no fault of theirs but due to non-conduct of examination by the force.

“…In view of the fact that after 2016 till 2022, no examination for the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) by respondent no.1 (CRPF) was held, we are of the opinion that the petitioners and similarly situated personnel cannot be deprived of the right to appear in the examination.

“Also when Rule 9 of CRPF grants the power to relax the Rules wherever necessary, in the interest of justice, we find that relaxation of three years in the upper age limit can be given to the candidates who wish to apply pursuant to the advertisement in question,” the bench said.

The court said it goes without saying that even if the upper age limit for appearing in the examination is relaxed, the appointment to the posts would happen only after the candidates are successful in the recruitment process involving computer based test, skill test, physical standard test (PST), documents verification (DV), detailed medical test (DME) and review medical test (RME).

The grievance of the petitioners was that the CRPF had issued an advertisement in 2016 for filling up 686 vacancies for direct recruitment to the post of Head Constable (Ministerial) but the petitioners could not be selected.

Thereafter, it was only on December 27, 2022, after a period of six years, that an advertisement for filling up the vacancies was issued, the plea said.

The petitioners are aggrieved that the age limit of the candidates prescribed for the posts is from 18 to 25 years but since no recruitment was conducted "arbitrarily" for last 5-6 years, they have crossed the maximum prescribed age limit and are unable to apply for the examination.

The Centre’s counsel submitted that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has granted 3 years age relaxation beyond the prescribed upper age limit for all categories of candidates as a ‘one-time measure’ for the recruitment of Constable (Gneral Duty) in CAPFs, SSF and Rifleman(GD), Assam Rifles Examination 2022 and 2023.

He said if age relaxation is granted as per the July 26, 2022 order of the MHA, the age limit for the post of Head Constable (Male) will be raised from 25 years to 28 years for general candidates, from 25 years to 31 years for OBC candidates and from 25 years to 33 years for SC/ST aspirants.

The high court said there is no dispute that the CRPF, for the reasons best known to it, has been avoiding undertaking a recruitment process since 2017 for the appointment of Head Constables (Ministerial).

“This court is conscious of the fact that during the period 2019-2020, the appointments in government departments/ organisations were put to hold, however, we cannot ignore the fact that all the government departments/ organisations have been fully functional since the year 2021,” the bench said.