Age eligibility in service selection is fixed by the statutory date in the year of selection, not the select list date.

Rule 5 of the A.P. Police Service Rules, 1966 fixes age eligibility for appointment as Deputy Superintendent of Police with reference to the first day of July of the year in which selection is made. The term "selection" covers the full selection process, from advertisement and scrutiny of applications through examination, interview and preparation of the final list, so the relevant date cannot be shifted to the date of preparation of the select list. Reading the rule otherwise would make the governing date uncertain and dependent on delay in the process. The contrary view was therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether, under Rule 5 of the A.P. Police Service Rules, 1966, the candidate's minimum age for appointment as Deputy Superintendent of Police had to be completed on the date of preparation of the select list or on the first day of July of the year in which the selection was made.

Analysis: Rule 5 expressly required a candidate to have completed 21 years and not completed 26 years on the first day of July of the year in which the selection was made. The expression "selection" could not be confined only to the final stage of preparation of the select list. The selection process begins with the advertisement and includes scrutiny of applications, elimination of ineligible candidates, examinations, interview and final list preparation. If eligibility were tied to the date of the select list, the governing date would become uncertain and fluctuating, producing arbitrary results depending on delay in the process. The rule had therefore to be read as fixing a specific and determinate date for age eligibility.

Conclusion: The age qualification was to be determined with reference to the first day of July of the year of selection, not the date of preparation of the select list, and the Tribunal's contrary view was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a service rule fixes age eligibility with reference to a specific date in the year of selection, the governing date cannot be shifted to the date on which the select list is prepared merely because the selection process concludes later.

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