Courts Cannot Rewrite Recruitment Qualifications

The Supreme Court has restored the selection of a vocational instructor after holding that courts ordinarily cannot add to or alter essential qualifications prescribed by recruitment rules. Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M. Pancholi set aside a Bombay High Court ruling that required Goa authorities to treat another applicant as eligible for a plumber-instructor post. The departmental committee had found that applicant lacked the specified academic qualification. The Supreme Court said equivalence or recognition cannot be judicially supplied where the governing rules prescribe a particular credential. It confined the ruling to the recruitment at issue and expressed no general opinion on the validity of National Institute of Open Schooling qualifications. The rival appointment made under the High Court order was set aside, while the committee’s decision and the appellant’s temporary appointment were restored on 6 October 2026.