Prospective recruitment rules cannot alter eligibility in a selection process already underway when the amendment takes effect later.

A substituted recruitment rule expressly stated to operate from the date of publication in the Official Gazette, so it applied prospectively and did not affect a selection process already set in motion under the earlier rules. Once the recruitment notification had been issued and the last date for applications had expired, later changes in eligibility criteria did not ordinarily govern that process absent clear retrospective intent. The court therefore held that the 2009 amendment to the upper age limit could not be applied to the pending recruitment, and the applicant could not claim its benefit.

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Issues: Whether the substituted upper age limit introduced by the 2009 amendment to the recruitment rules operated retrospectively from the date of the original rules or prospectively from the date of publication of the amendment.

Analysis: The recruitment notification had been issued under the 2004 rules, which prescribed the upper age limit for the post. The 2009 amendment substituted the age-limit clause, but the amended rules expressly stated that they would come into force from the date of publication in the Official Gazette. In service recruitment, once the selection process has commenced and the last date for applications has expired, later changes in eligibility criteria do not ordinarily govern that process unless the legislature clearly makes them retrospective. A substitution does not override an express commencement clause. Applying the amended age limit to an already initiated selection would also prejudice those who did not apply because they were over-age under the earlier rules.

Conclusion: The substituted age-limit provision was prospective and did not apply to the pending recruitment. The applicant could not claim the benefit of the 2009 amendment.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a substituted recruitment rule expressly states its commencement from the date of publication, it operates prospectively and cannot alter eligibility in a selection process already set in motion.

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