Giving a big blow to the Haryana government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also canceled the notification of the provision of additional marks to be given on socio-economic basis. Along with this, the government has been ordered to prepare the result of the recruitment being done on thousands of posts afresh.
The government will have to prepare the result within three months without giving the benefit of additional marks. Apart from this, the court has said that those who have been appointed by taking advantage of these marks should be placed at the bottom of the seniority category and the selection process should be taken forward only on the basis of changed merit.
Notification was issued in 2019
While Manohar Lal was the CM, the government had issued a notification on June 11, 2019 giving the benefit of additional marks in recruitment. This notification was challenged in the court through various petitions. It was said in the petitions that giving the benefit of marks on economic and social basis is like giving reservation in a way. It was told in the petitions that under this category, additional 10 marks are given to those candidates who are widows, orphans or no member of the candidate’s family is in a government job.
90 out of 90 marks left out due to not getting the benefit of additional marks
Monica Raman of Karnal alleged in the petition that the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) had advertised for appointment to 146 posts of JSE for Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) and prescribed the required qualification. According to the selection criteria, there was to be a 90 mark exam and 10 marks were to be given to those who came in the socio-economic criteria. She had 90 out of 90 marks in the exam held on February 27. When the final selection list was declared on April 22, 2021, her name was not there despite having 100 percent marks in the written exam. She was not selected because the cut-off marks for the general category were 93 and 92 marks were fixed for the waiting list for the general category. According to him, he could not get a place in the list due to the socio-economic criteria adopted by the state government. Similarly, many other petitions were pending in the High Court.
All petitions disposed of
Advocate Sarthak Gupta said that the court has disposed of all the petitions and cancelled the notification making provision for these marks. The court has ordered that the results of those recruitments in which the result has been prepared by giving the benefit of these marks, should be prepared afresh.
