“A single person cannot hold entire recruitment process at ransom”: P&H High Court dismisses plea seeking deference of Haryana Civil Services Examination
The petitioner approached the court seeking direction to postpone the Preliminary examination for Haryana Civil Services and to postpone the date of the examination for the post of Excise and Taxation Inspector. Both exams are scheduled on the same day.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh, in its order dated 17.05.2023, dismissed the plea seeking deference of the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) preliminary exam advertised by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC).
The petitioner approached the court seeking direction against respondent no. 1 to postpone the Preliminary examination for Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) and other allied services which is scheduled on 21.05.2023. An alternate prayer was made for directing respondent no. 2 (Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board) to postpone the date of the examination for the post of Excise and Taxation Inspector which was also scheduled on the same day.
The bench of Justice Suvir Sehgal, while dismissing the petition, observed, “The postponement of either of the examinations will not be in the interest of anyone. On the one hand, the administrative work suffers due to the vacancies of the various government posts and on the other hand, the job aspirants, who may be travelling from different places, are left in the lurch due to uncertainty of the dates for holding the examination. Conducting of an examination for thousands of candidates is a herculean task and involves micro and macro planning spread over a period of months. A single person cannot hold the entire recruitment process at ransom. The Court has to weigh the interest of a solitary petitioner with that of teeming number of aspirants.”
Counsel for the petitioner submitted that since the petitioner had applied for both the said exams, and there is a clash in the dates, either of the two may be deferred. Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court judgment in Nisha Kumari v. HPSC, WP(C) No. 310 of 2022.
Counsel for the HPSC submitted that the admit cards have already been released and in case there is any deference now, the situation will get chaotic. Though the petitioner submitted a representation with respect to the said issue, he remained silent till the eleventh hour, until the filing of the present petition, it was added. Reliance was placed on CWP-8205-2022 titled Raghav Gumber v. HPSC and another, decided on 22.04.2022 to submit that pushing the exam will not only delay the recruitment process but also affect arrangements already set in place for the same.
Case Title: Parminder Kaur v Haryana Public Service Commission