Union Of India & ORS. v. Rajesh Kumar & ORS.

$~67 *

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+ W.P.(C) 1081/2026, CM APPL. 5289/2026, CM APPL. 5290/2026 and CM APPL. 5291/2026 UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

.....Petitioners Through:

Mr. Vijay Joshi, CGSC with Mr. Shubham Chaturvedi, Adv.

versus RAJESH KUMAR & ORS.

.....Respondents Through:

Mr. Samarth Luthra, Adv.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KSHETARPAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN

O R D E R

% 27.01.2026 1.

The present Writ Petition, filed by the Petitioners, assails the correctness of the order dated 18.07.2025 passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi in O.A. No. 876/2018.

2.

Learned counsel representing the parties are ad idem that the present Writ Petition can be disposed of in terms of the judgment dated 24.11.2025 passed in W.P.(C) 17867/2025 captioned Staff Selection Commission & Anr. vs. Sundar Singh. 3.

Paragraphs 10 to 14 of the judgment dated 24.11.2025 are extracted hereinbelow:- "10. Once a special sub-reservation is made within Ex-Servicemen category for Ex-Servicemen from three categories of Commandos, while declaring the cut-off marks, this sub-reservation has to be duly considered. The petitioners have not done so, but instead issued a common cut-off by considering all Ex-Servicemen as one category. This defeats the very object of reservation in favour of the subcategory.

11. As regards the plea of the learned counsel for the petitioners that the reservation for ex-servicemen is horizontal in nature, the The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/01/2026 at 15:12:10

same has already been accepted by the learned Tribunal. The same, however, will not mean that such reservation does not deserve the special recognition and treatment like other reservations.

12. Given the above, we find no merit in the challenge of the petitioners to the Impugned Order insofar as it directs the petitioners to re-work the cut-off mark for the post reserved for the special category of ex-servicemen.

13. At the same time, we find merit in the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioners that the recruitment process pertains to the year 2017 and was concluded with the result declared on 29.01.2018; the same should not now be allowed to be re-opened for the benefit of the candidates who did not challenge it at the relevant time. Reopening of the result at this stage would cause administrative chaos with multiple issues arising therefrom.

14. Accordingly, we modify the directions issued by the learned Tribunal only to the limited extent that the benefit of re-working of the result shall flow only to the respondent herein, or to other similarly situated candidates who had challenged the result before any forum and whose challenge has not attained finality as on today."

4.

With the consent of the learned counsel representing the parties, the present Writ Petition, along with pending applications, is also disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

ANIL KSHETARPAL, J.

AMIT MAHAJAN, J.

JANUARY 27, 2026/sp/pal The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/01/2026 at 15:12:10