Hold CET as planned, but don’t declare results: HC to Haryana

As the appeal came up for hearing before the division bench of Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Vikram Aggarwal, the bench was informed that in the CET held on November 5 and November 6, 2022, as many as 7,73,000 candidates had appeared out of which 3,58,000 qualified as there was a cut-off of 50% for General Category and 40% for the reserved category aspirants.

Appearing for the state, Baldev Raj Mahajan, Advocate General (AG) Haryana, with Vivek Saini, Additional AG Haryana, and Shruti Jain Goyal, Senior Deputy AG Haryana, pointed out that out of 3,58,000 candidates who had qualified, 2,68,000 had claimed marks under socio-economic criteria as per the notification dated May 5, 2022. On account of the public notices being issued since the said criteria could go up to 5 per cent marks and which is based on various factors, it was further submitted that as many as 41,587 candidates had withdrawn their claim under the socio-economic criteria.

The AG Haryana submitted that the dispute arose regarding Group 56 and 57 selection, and there are as many as 63 groups wherein various types of posts are to be filled up on the basis of the results of the CET.

“As many as 6,419 posts were advertised for Group 56 on March 7, 2023, and 5,697 posts for Group 57,” the AG Haryana told the court.

The state counsel added that for Group 57, a total of 37,657 candidates were to sit in the examination on Saturday, whereas 30,704 candidates would be sitting for Group 56 on Sunday, that is, a total of 68,361 candidates were to appear in the written examination/skill test on the weekend. It is, accordingly, pointed out that as per the advertisement, the skill test would of 100 marks, out of which the written examination would be of 97.5% and the socio-economic criteria would be reduced to 2.5 per cent. The Advocate General submitted that in pursuance of the CET held, the result was put in public domain and the candidates were made aware of their marks obtained in CET. It was pointed out that when such large number of candidates are involved, the benefit being claimed under the socio-economic criteria cannot be verified at this point of time and there are sufficient safeguards as such that the same would be done at the final stage and also at subsequent point of time, in case it came to light that a candidate had wrongly claimed the criteria, the same would be declared void.

It was pointed out before the high court that the result of CET will be valid for a period of three years and the candidates who qualify and get the minimum marks would always be eligible for consideration in the next round of posts advertised and, therefore, no prejudice would be caused to them.

The bench on hearing the state’s contentions issued a notice to the respondents in the matter returnable on September 1.

“In the meantime, the examination slated for the weekend, i.e., today (August 5) and tomorrow (or any other date so fixed by the appellant, as exam fixed for today is stated to have been postponed) shall continue, however, the result shall not be declared and shall be subject to the final decision of the present appeal,” ordered the high court.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the frequent changing of the criteria by the state government and the CET errors have spoiled the life of the youths in the state and also dashed their hopes of getting a job, and for this Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and deputy CM Dushyant Chautala are responsible.

When CET score is the base on which the recruitment is done, why can’t the Haryana government hold it without glitches, the Congress leader asked.

Surjewala also asked the Haryana government that when the revised result of CET is completely wrong, then what is the justification of taking the exam.