India, Aug. 22 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court quashed the termination of 26 general-category junior engineers recruited by the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam in 2013, ruling that employees cannot be made to suffer for administrative errors in the recruitment process.

Justice Irshad Ali, hearing petitions filed by Rakesh Pratap Singh and 25 other engineers, held that the petitioners had been selected through a regular process by the competent authority against sanctioned posts. There were no allegations that they had secured their appointments through fraud, misrepresentation or manipulation.

The court said while the reservation policy must be implemented, authorities must also follow the law while doing so. "There can be no d...