HC upholds state’s right to set specific age limits for police recruitment, rubbishes claims of discrimination
SHILLONG, Sep 11: The High Court of Meghalaya has dismissed a writ petition challenging the age limit criteria for recruitment to the state’s police force. The petitioners, Barilang Pyngrope and three others, had argued that the age relaxation granted in a 2022 memorandum for government jobs should have applied to the recruitment for 1,255 police vacancies advertised in March 2024.
In their plea, the petitioners claimed that the relaxation, which extended the upper age limit for government service from 27 to 32 years, with an additional five-year relaxation for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes candidates, should have been uniformly applied, including for police recruitment. However, the court found that the memorandum clearly exempted the Home (Police) department from this relaxation.
Justice HS Thangkhiew, Chief Justice (Acting), noted that the Meghalaya Police Act allows specific age limits for recruitment to police posts. As per an office memorandum issued in May 2024, the upper age limit for sub-inspectors was set at 27 years, and for constables at 21 years. The court further observed that the petitioners had not challenged the provisions of the Meghalaya Police Act or the 2024 memorandum that set these limits. Given that the recruitment process was already under way and the application deadline had passed in May 2024, the court ruled that there was no basis for intervention and dismissed the petition. The petitioners had filed the case after their representations to the government yielded no result. However, the court upheld the state’s right to set specific age limits for police recruitment, dismissing claims of discrimination.