Employer free to reject over-qualified applicants: Supreme Court

Description

Context: A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said courts have limited judicial review over such decisions by employers.

Prescription of qualifications for a post is a matter of recruitment policy.
Verdict overturned Odisha HC’s decision allowing a graduate to be appointed as a peon with the Punjab National Bank
A prospective employer has discretion not to appoint a candidate who may have a “higher qualification”, but not the one prescribed for the job vacancy.
The apex court said courts allow a “greater latitude” for employers to prescribe the necessary qualification for a post.
Qualifications are prescribed keeping in view the need and interest of an institution or an industry or an establishment as the case may be.
The Courts are not fit instruments to assess expediency or advisability or utility of such prescription of qualifications.
However, an employer cannot act arbitrarily or fancifully in prescribing qualifications for posts.
The judgment came on an appeal filed by the Punjab National Bank against an Orissa High Court decision allowing an over-qualified candidate to be appointed as a peon.