VIKASH KUMAR Vs. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner assails the eligibility conditions for the post of Assistant Manager (Protocol and Security), Grade-A, as provided in the respondent- Reserve Bank of India's recruitment advertisement issued in July 2025.

(2.) The petitioner is a former Assistant Commandant in the Border Security Force ["BSF"], having served for approximately five years and five months in the BSF. His grievance is that the impugned advertisement restricts the eligibility for the post of Assistant Manager (Protocol and Security) to officers with a minimum of ten years' commissioned service in the regular Army/Navy/Air Force, holding a valid Ex-Servicemen identity card.

(3.) Mr. Asish Nischal, learned counsel for the petitioner, submits that, in several prior recruitments for the same post between the years 2013 and 2020, candidates who had served in the Central Armed Police Forces ["CAPF"] were also permitted to participate, and the minimum level of service was stipulated as five years instead of ten years. The position was changed only in an advertisement issued in the year 2021, when former CAPF personnel were excluded from consideration. However, the petitioner was allowed to participate, pursuant to an interim order of this Court dtd. 13/4/2022 in W.P.(C) 5729/2022. The said writ petition was later withdrawn, in view of the fact that the petitioner did not qualify on merit, despite participation in the selection process.