The Supreme Court has held that ambiguity in advertised qualifications should be construed in favour of a candidate who appears to meet the stated requirements, unless the employer clearly prescribed a stricter rule.
Irfan Ahmad Hakak applied for a librarian post requiring a master’s degree in library science and three years’ experience. The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court treated the experience requirement as necessarily post-qualification, although the advertisement did not say so and the employer had not originally raised that objection.
Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar said a court should not expand a recruitment dispute by supplying qualifications the employer omitted. Their 5 October 2026 judgment set aside the High Court decisions and affirmed the tribunal’s direction to offer Hakak the post.
The Supreme Court, however, removed the tribunal’s award of retrospective seniority, pay fixation and other consequential service benefits.