Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25

Less than two years after an advertisement was issued for the direct appointment to 1,558 posts of head teacher, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that illegal and improper procedure contrary to settled principles of law was adopted by the recruiting agency. Meritorious candidates entitled to appointment were suffering unnecessary litigation rather than being appointed in accordance with law.

Irregular act

The irregular act on the part of the recruitment board has led to a situation where 779 posts in the open general category could not be filled and 226 posts remained unfilled due to unavailability of recommended candidates. High court

Taking up a bunch of petitions by Gurpreet Singh and other petitioners, Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi asserted it was incumbent upon the respondents to first fill 779 posts advertised in the open general category from the joint merit list, irrespective of the category in which a candidate had applied for. Only thereafter the respondents should have undertaken the process of filling reserved category posts starting from the next merit position available. But the recruitment board and the respondents did not follow the process.

Justice Sethi asserted recommending candidates equal to the number of posts advertised in the different categories was the first irregularity committed by the recruitment board. Eligible candidates, twice the number, should have been recommended.

“This irregular act on the part of the recruitment board has led to a situation where total 779 posts in the open general category could not be filled and 226 posts remained unfilled due to unavailability of recommended candidates. A large number of candidates out of 779 recommended by the recruitment board either did not participate in the process, left the selection process halfway or were found ineligible...,” Justice Sethi asserted.

The second irregularity by the recruitment board was to take up the selection process of all 1,558 posts simultaneously, rather than first filling up all the posts of open general category. The outcome of the illegal/irregular action was that selection and appointment till date could not be finalised, creating unnecessary litigation.

“The posts remained unfilled in the open general category due to this irregular process of recruitment by the board and followed by the respondent-department. Now, unfilled posts in the open general category are being filled by the respondents by transferring the reserved category candidates, who are higher in merit and already appointed in the reserved category, to the open general category, to satisfy the requirement of law and to rectify their mistake,” Justice Sethi added.

Before parting with the case, Justice Sethi asserted no ground was made out to interfere with the process of shifting the candidates from reserved categories to open general category to undo the illegality/irregularity by the recruitment board in the appointment/selection is at the initial stage.