The Supreme Court has accepted the appeal of Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) in the Assistant Prosecution Officer (APO) Recruitment-2024 case. The court clarified that it is necessary for the candidate to have a law degree by the last date of application for recruitment. If any candidate
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Along with this, the Supreme Court canceled the order of Rajasthan High Court, in which final year students were allowed to appear in the examination.
Actually, RPSC had issued advertisement for 181 posts of APO on 7 March 2024. In this, Law Graduate degree was made a mandatory qualification. However, many such candidates had also applied whose degree had not been completed till the last date of application.
Later the Commission had clarified that the candidates who do not have the required qualifications till the last date of application, should withdraw their applications. This decision was challenged by the candidates in the Rajasthan High Court. The single and division bench of the High Court, while giving the verdict in favor of the candidates, had said that if the degree is obtained by the date of examination, then they can be considered eligible.
In the case, the single bench of the High Court gave its verdict on 15 January 2025, while the double bench gave its verdict on 12 August 25. RPSC had moved the Supreme Court against this decision.
Candidates who appeared during Assistant Prosecution Officer (APO) Recruitment-2024 exam.
The Supreme Court made this comment
- A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said that the provision from Rule 12 of the Rajasthan Prosecution Subordinate Service Rules, 1978, which gave the exemption to final year students to apply, was removed in October 2002 itself.
- The court held that the language of the advertisement was very clear, according to which the eligibility is assessed only on the basis of the documents available at the time of application. The Court said that if relaxation is given to qualify till the interview, it will create uncertainty in the selection process and will put additional administrative burden on the Commission.
Ineligible candidates will not be able to appear in the exam. Commission Secretary Ramniwas Mehta said that after this decision, now only those candidates will be included in the Assistant Prosecution Officer recruitment, who had a Bachelor of Law degree till the last date of application. The court has canceled the orders of the single and division bench of the High Court, which had allowed ineligible candidates to appear in the examination.
Let us tell you, more than 52 thousand candidates had applied to the Commission for 181 posts. Its pre-exam was held on 19 January 2025 and the main exam was held on 1 June 2025. The Supreme Court gave this verdict in the case on May 4, this information has been circulated on the portal by RPSC this morning.
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