The Gauhati High Court has set aside a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that upheld the cancellation of a Railway departmental promotion examination for the post of Chief Law Assistant. The court held that the authorities should have separated the candidates under suspicion instead of cancelling the entire recruitment process.
The division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury directed the Railways to complete the selection process within three months.
Background of the Case
The dispute arose from a departmental promotion examination conducted by the Northeast Frontier Railway in September 2022 for filling Chief Law Assistant posts under the 60% promotion quota.
Five employees who had cleared the written examination approached the High Court after the entire selection process was cancelled in February 2024.
Initially, objections were raised regarding non-publication of answer keys before declaration of results. Following litigation before the CAT, answer keys were published and revised, and answer sheets were re-evaluated. Despite these corrective steps, the Railways later cancelled the entire examination citing procedural irregularities.
The petitioners argued that they had successfully cleared the examination and that the cancellation deprived them of a fair opportunity for promotion.
During the hearing, the bench examined records placed by the Railway administration and noted that the earlier issues relating to answer keys and evaluation had already been rectified through re-evaluation.
The court observed that the Railways themselves had acknowledged that there was no complaint regarding unfair means during the written examination.
Referring to Supreme Court precedents, the bench emphasized that cancellation of an entire examination is justified only when the integrity of the process is compromised at a systemic level.
“The defect had completely been remedied,” the bench noted while discussing the issues relating to answer-key publication and re-evaluation.
The judges further observed that the administration's concern was limited to suspicion surrounding two candidates.
“Those two candidates... could easily have been segregated from the rest of the candidates and the examination process should have been taken to a logical/final conclusion,” the court said.
The bench also found that the decision to cancel the entire process failed the test of fairness and proportionality.
“The decision of the respondents and of the Tribunal does not appear to be fair, reasonable, well-balanced or harmonious,” the court observed.
Decision
Allowing the writ petition, the Gauhati High Court set aside the CAT's judgment dated December 8, 2025.
The court directed the Railway authorities to segregate the cases of the two candidates under suspicion and complete the remaining selection process for the Chief Law Assistant posts. The exercise has been ordered to be completed within a reasonable period, preferably within three months.
The writ petition was allowed to that extent.
Case Details:
Case Title: Shri Ranjeet Kumar & Ors. vs Union of India & Ors.
Case Number: WP(C) No. 516 of 2026
Judge: Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury
Decision Date: May 26, 2026
