The Punjab and Haryana High Court has accepted the review petition filed by the government regarding the allocation of marks on socio-economic grounds. This order from the High Court brings relief to approximately 10,500 employees whose jobs had been hanging in the balance following a previous court directive.
In its earlier order, the High Court had directed the cancellation of the results for examinations conducted for nearly 53,000 Group C and D posts, and had ordered the preparation of a fresh merit list based on the CET (Common Eligibility Test) scores, without granting the benefit of the 5 marks allotted on socio-economic grounds. The government had subsequently filed a plea seeking a review of this decision. Prior to this, in a detailed order issued regarding reservation on socio-economic grounds, the High Court had observed that such a provision amounted, in essence, to granting reservation. It questioned why such an “artificial category” was being created when the State Government had already extended reservation benefits under the Economically Backward Classes (EBC) category.
