ANANT KUMAR RAO vs UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment reserved on: 05.02.2026 Judgment pronounced on: 13.02.2026 Judgment uploaded on: 13.02.2026 + W.P.(C) 15303/2025 and CM APPL. 62744/2025 ANANT KUMAR RAO .....Petitioner Through: Dr. Kamini Lau, Ms. Jyoti Vashisht, Ms. Suniti Bhatt and Mr. Rudraksh Jain, Advs. versus UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Ravinder Agarwal, Mr. Manish Kumar Singh, Mr. Vasu Agarwal and Mr. Lekh Raj Singh, Advs. for R-1 and R- 2/UPSC. Mr. Shrey Sharawat, SPC with Mr. Arvind, GP and Ms. Ishita Misra, Adv. for R-3 and R-4. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KSHETARPAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN JUDGMENT ANIL KSHETARPAL, J. 1. By invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Petitioner prays for issuance of the writ in the nature of certiorari to quash the Order passed on 23.07.2025 [hereinafter referred to as the ‘Impugned Order’] by the Central Administrative Tribunal [hereinafter referred to as ‘CAT’] whereby the Original Application preferred by the Signature Not Verified Signed By:JAI NARAYAN Signing Date:13.02.2026 W.P.(C) 15303/2025 Page 1 of 11 13:24:15 Petitioner came to be dismissed and the rejection of his candidature for the post of Prosecutor in the Serious Fraud Investigation Office [hereinafter referred to as ‘SFIO’] was upheld. 2. To comprehend the issues involved in the present case, the relevant facts in brief are required to be noticed. Pursuant to Advertisement No. 18/2022 issued by the Union Public Service Commission [hereinafter referred to as ‘UPSC’], inviting online recruitment applications [hereinafter referred to as ‘ORA’], inter alia, for twelve posts of Prosecutor in the SFIO, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Pe