Must the Navy fill every vacancy existing in a stabilised cadre?

No. A candidate does not have a right to be selected merely due to the existence of a vacancy, and the competent authority may for policy reasons leave vacancies unfilled, so long as the decision is not plagued with the vice of arbitrariness, does not undermine merit and is not otherwise illegal.

Navy Act, 1957 - s.9(2) - Regulations for the Navy Part III, 1963 - Regulation 203 - Permanent Commission - Short Service Commission Officers - Annual Confidential Reports - Fairness in selection - Regulations for the Navy Part III, 1963 - Regulation 203 - ACR grading under an assumption of ineligibility - Held: Where officers were graded under a bell-curve-based system while understood to be ineligible for Permanent Commission, higher gradings served no institutional purpose and endorsements against them were mechanical. Past ineligibility so converted into deemed unsuitability materially distorts inter se merit. (¶13, 17) Regulations for the Navy Part III, 1963 - Regulation 203 - Vacancies in the stabilised cadre - Material time - Held further: The material time for assessing vacancies is when officers are actually considered, since a historical deficiency bears no rational connection to the cadre position then prevailing. Distributing the deficiency over a fifteen-year horizon is anchored in service realities, not caprice. (¶33, 38) Constitution of India, 1950 - Art. 14 - Existence of a vacancy - No right to be selected - Held further: A candidate has no right to be selected merely because a vacancy exists, and the competent authority may leave vacancies unfilled for policy reasons. Such a choice stands unless it is arbitrary, undermines merit or is otherwise illegal. (¶41) Constitution of India, 1950 - Art. 14 - Selection Board - Prior disclosure of criteria and vacancies - Held further: Confining the evaluation criteria and vacancy computation methodology to internal approval, while the Army and the Air Force promulgated theirs, violates basic norms of fairness and transparency. Appeals allowed and Permanent Commission granted in place of a fresh Board. (¶51, 56)

One judgment a day. That's the whole habit.

Read the full text of Yogendra Kumar Singh v. Union of India & Ors. — and get the Supreme Court's output as a five-minute daily read, with plain-language headnotes and the questions each judgment settles.

Free forever plan · 30 seconds · data stays in India