The Madras High Court recently directed authorities to consider an ex-serviceman’s appointment as a Grade II police constable or jail warden, holding that his failure to disclose a criminal case arising from matrimonial discord did not amount to suppression of information in the circumstances of the case.

Justice Rajnish Pathiyil noted that the FIR registered on his wife’s complaint in 2016 had been closed after action was dropped. The couple later obtained a divorce by mutual consent, and no criminal case was pending against the man when he applied for the post in 2023.

The high court was hearing the plea of a man seeking directions for his appointment as a Grade II police constable or jail warden. He claimed to have completed 17 years of unblemished service in the Indian Army. “The petitioner (man) is entitled to the relief sought for.…