TARUN & ORS. vs UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

$~P-1 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 12.09.2025 Pronounced on: 24.11.2025 Uploaded on: 24.11.2025 + W.P.(C) 11819/2024 and CM APPL. 49157/2024, CM APPL. 59119/2024 TARUN & ORS. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Ashish Pradhan, Mr. Srikant Prasad, Mr. Aman Mehrotra and Mr. Rahul Kumar, Advocates. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Premtosh K. Mishra, CGSC with Mr. Sarthak Anand and Mr. Prarabdh Tiwari, Advocates for R1 with Mr. Amit Acharya, Govt. Pleader for UOI. Mr. Krishan Kumar, Mr. Seemant K. Garg and Ms. Priya Pathak, Advocates for R-4 and R-6. Mrs. Avnish Alhawat, SC-GNCTD alongwith Ms. Aliza Alam & Mr. Mohnish Sehrawat, Advocates. CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PRATEEK JALAN JUDGMENT PRATEEK JALAN, J 1. By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioners, 118 in number, seek a direction to respondent No. 4 – Central Bank of India [“the Bank”] to give preference to the petitioners for appointment to the post of Clerk, on the ground that they are trained apprentices, and to provide reservation for trained apprentices for the said Signature Not Verified Signed By:PARUL W.P.(C) 11819/2024 Page 1 of 9 VASHIST Signing Date:24.11.2025 19:06:49 post. Although the writ petition also contains a prayer for absorption of the petitioners into the services of the Bank upon completion of their apprenticeship, this relief was not pressed at the time of hearing. 2. The petitioners were all apprentices in the Bank during the period from June 2023 to July 2024. They were appointed pursuant to a notification issued by the Bank in March 2023 for engagement of apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961 [“the Act”], in accordance with the Bank’s apprenticeship policy. The notification provided, inter alia, as follows: