New Delhi, Sep 24 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday quashed a National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) recruitment notification that prescribed “merit in CLAT (PG) score – 2022 onwards” as the sole criteria for engagement of Young Professionals (Legal) on contract basis.
In its detailed judgment, a Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela ruled that the recruitment criteria had “no rational nexus” with the object of public employment and violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
“Here selection is to be held for the purposes of recruitment/ selection/ appointment/ employment and not for the purposes of pursuing higher studies. Accordingly, any criteria employed for judging the suitability of a candidate for pursuing higher studies cannot be employed for the purposes of adjudging his suitability for public employment,” observed the CJ Upadhyaya-led Bench.
The Delhi High Court stressed that while CLAT (PG) may be a credible national-level examination for admission to postgraduate law courses, it could not be equated with suitability for public employment.
“The criteria determining eligibility for pursuing higher courses (post-graduation) and the criteria for adjudging suitability for public employment, in our opinion, cannot be equated with each other,” said the Bench.
Further, pointing out the vagueness of the notification, it said: “Even if a candidate has secured zero marks on his appearance in CLAT (PG) examination, he shall be eligible, whereas if a candidate has not appeared in the said examination at all, he shall be ineligible. (S)uch a prescription belies any reason whatsoever.”
The Delhi High Court rejected NHAI’s contention that several other organisations, including Public Sector Undertakings, use CLAT (PG) scores for recruitment.
“Because certain other organisations including Public Sector Undertakings, have been adopting CLAT (PG) score as basis for offering employment, is not a justification….for the NHAI to prescribe the impugned recruitment criteria,” the judgment stated.
“The impugned ‘recruitment criteria’ where selection for appointment to the post in question is to be made on the basis of merit in CLAT (PG) score – 2022 onwards, is legally not tenable being hit by Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India,” the Delhi High Court held, quashing the notification dated August 11, 2025 issued by the NHAI.
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