IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P.(C) No.14902 of 2017 Satyanarayan Pattanayak …. Petitioner Mr. J.K. Panda, Advocate -versus- State of Odisha & others …. Opp. Parties Mr. J. K. Khandayatray, AGA CORAM: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE CHITTARANJAN DASH Order No. ORDER 06.03.2026 01. 1. Heard learned counsel for the Parties. 2. By means of this application, the Petitioner is challenging the Resolution dated 26.12.2016 issued by the School and Mass Education Department whereby, inter alia, the upper age limit for engagement to the post of Sikshya Sahayak was prescribed as 32 years. The principal relief sought is for quashing the said stipulation and for a direction to the authorities to fix the upper age limit at 42 years, thereby enabling the petitioners to participate in the recruitment process. 3. At the relevant point of time, the prescription of the upper age limit for entry into Government service in the State was governed by the Orissa Civil Service (Fixation of Upper Age Limit) Rules, 1989 and the amendments made thereto. Under the said statutory framework, the upper age limit for entry into service stood fixed at 32 years, subject to the relaxations provided therein. The stipulation contained in the impugned Resolution was thus in consonance with the statutory rules then in force. In the absence of any challenge to the validity of the said Rules, the prayer of the petitioners for fixation of the upper age limit at 42 years could not have been acceded to. 4. It is further noticed that the petitioner himself, as disclosed in the writ petition, was about 41 years of age in the year 2017 when the writ petition came to be filed. The recruitment process impugned in the present proceedings pertains to the year 2016-2017, and considerable time has elapsed since then. In the present year 2026, the petitioner would be well beyond the age limit even as sought to be prescribed by him. The relief prayed for has, therefore, become incapable of practical enforcement. 5. It is also noticed by this Court that by Notification dated 09.06.2025 in No.19312-GAD-SC-RULES- 0008/2016/Gen, the State Government has amended the Odisha Civil Service (Fixation of Upper Age Limit) Rules, 1989 whereby the upper age limit for entry into Government service has been enhanced to forty-two years. However, the recruitment process impugned in the present writ petition pertains to the year 2016-2017, when the statutory rules prescribed the upper age limit as 32 years. The stipulation contained in the impugned resolution was thus in consonance with the statutory framework then in force. Any direction of the nature sought by the petitioners for fixation of the upper age limit at 42 years would, in effect, require this Court to override or ignore the statutory age ceiling fixed under the said Rules. Such a course is impermissible in exercise of jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. Unless the Rules themselves are specifically challenged and declared invalid or are amended by the competent authority in accordance with law, the recruiting authority cannot prescribe an age limit contrary to the statutory mandate. The subsequent amendment brought about in the year 2025 cannot operate retrospectively so as to unsettle or reopen a recruitment process undertaken in accordance with the rules prevailing at the relevant time. 6. In view of the aforesaid circumstances, this Court finds no ground to entertain the challenge raised in the present writ petition. Accordingly, the Writ Petition stands dismissed. (Chittaranjan Dash) Judge Bijay Designation: Junior Stenographer