HC sets aside govt order cancelling S-I recruitment process

The court set aside the order primarily on the ground that no reason was mentioned for cancelling the recruitment process,which was in the advanced stages of completion. It has also directed the state to complete the recruitment process within two months as per the norms.

A single judge bench of Justice Sudhir Agarwal passed the order while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by several aspirants for the post of S-Is. The petitioners had challenged the cancellation of the recruitment process on the ground that no reason has been mentioned in the order.

Vijay Gautam,counsel for a bunch of petitioners,Vindhyavasini Tiwari and others,said: “Our argument before the court was that any process that has been initiated by the government cannot be cancelled on arbitrary ground. The court agreed with our contention.”

The recruitment process of 4,010 posts of S-Is had earlier also got embroiled in controversy following change in the eligibility criteria mid-way through the recruitment process.

The rules were changed following the death of one Satyendra Yadav on February 18 during the Physical Endurance Test (PET). Following this,the norms related to PET were made slightly easier.

But the change was challenged in the high court,which ruled that once a process has been started,it cannot be changed.

In its order passed in July this year,a single judge bench of Justice Devendra Pratap Singh had,however,asked the government to either go ahead with the recruitment on the basis of old norms or “if they (government) was so advised,the entire recruitment may be undertaken in accordance with the new criteria but following the law on the issue.”

Even though the written examinations and most part of the PET had been conducted,the government,on September 3,decided to cancel the entire recruitment and initiate new process using new criteria. However,it did not give any concrete reasons as to why the recruitment process was cancelled in the first place.