Harikesh Kumar v. Union Of India & ORS.

$~4 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 3545/2026 HARIKESH KUMAR .....Petitioner Through:

Maj.

Kavish Aggarwala, Advocate.

versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

.....Respondents Through:

Ms. Latika Malhotra, SPC Mr. Rahul Bhaskar, GP. Major Kanika Sharma, Army, for Respondents 1-3.

CORAM:

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

O R D E R

% 13.04.2026 1.

The present writ petition is filed by the Petitioner seeking the following reliefs:

"I. Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Order, or Direction, thereby quashing and setting aside the Impugned Merit List issued for the SSC (Tech)-62 Course (April 2024), and consequently to allot the Petitioner a seat in SSC (Tech)-62 at OTA, Chennai, or in any equivalent upcoming course; II. Direct the Respondents, in the alternative, that if such appointment cannot be granted at this stage, to adequately compensate the Petitioner for the discrepancy in allotment of vacancies and for the irreparable loss and injury caused to his career"

2.

The Petitioner applied for Permanent Commission in the Indian Army. He appeared for 138th Technical Graduate Course ('TGC') and secured 23rd rank in Civil Engineering Branch. For Permanent Commission, 11 vacancies were available for Civil Engineering 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 16/04/2026 at 13:22:49

Branch, hence, the Petitioner could not secure Permanent Commission. Subsequently, the Petitioner was invited to submit his willingness/ unwillingness to opt for Short Service Commission (Tech) Course at Officers Training Academy, Chennai, for which the Petitioner gave his consent. The Petitioner is essentially aggrieved by denial of appointment to him for the aforesaid course. 3.

It is pointed out that the Petitioner could not be selected as there were 248 candidates against 175 vacancies for the said course. It is also submitted that thereafter, the documents of certain candidates were forwarded to Indian Air force, and 15 candidates were selected out of 80 dossiers. It is submitted that the Petitioner was not selected by Air Force as he did not meet the qualification criteria. 4.

It is not the case of the Petitioner that any candidate who is ranked junior to him has been selected. Moreover, this recruitment concluded in January, 2024, despite which, the Petition has been filed in the year 2026 with no explanation for the delay. 5.

Hence, no ground is made out to issue a writ in favour of the Petitioner.

6.

The writ petition stands dismissed.

ANIL KSHETARPAL, J AMIT MAHAJAN, J APRIL 13, 2026 DU 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 16/04/2026 at 13:22:49