Selection of non-scs to IAS hits another hurdle as UPSC postpones interview
ON FEBRUARY 2, UPSC HAD ISSUED LETTERS TO 27 SHORTLISTED NON-SCS OFFICERS OF HARYANA FOR CONDUCTING INTERVIEW ON FEBRUARY 15
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government’s move to fill five IAS posts from among the shortlisted non-state Civil Service (non-scs) officers has hit yet another roadblock after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) “postponed” the interview scheduled for February 15.
On February 2, the UPSC had issued letters to 27 shortlisted non-scs officers of Haryana for conducting interview on February 15 for appointment to the IAS cadre of Haryana.
However, on February 12, the Haryana chief secretary’s office sent letters to each shortlisted candidate informing them that the February 15 meeting of the selection committee to hold interviews is postponed.
The decision to postpone the already delayed interviews by the selection committee comes after the Punjab and Haryana high court, on February 11, directed the UPSC to “positively file its response to the present application.”
While referring to this February 11 order of the HC, the UPSC, on February 12, sent a letter to the Haryana chief secretary stating that they had received a copy of the court order in question. “In view of the above order, the selection committee meeting scheduled for February 15 has been postponed,” GS Rawat, under secretary, UPSC, said in a letter (HT has copies of it).
Petitioner Surender Singh Dahiya, additional director, agriculture department, had filed an application seeking stay of interviews on February 15.
The petitioner had argued in court that the selection process would be deemed to have lapsed if the UPSC didn’t complete the entire exercise of electing candidates by December 31, 2020.
According to the January 14 order of an HC bench comprising justice Jaswant Singh and justice Sant Parkash, the petitioner had stated that as per his information, no selection had been completed till December 31, 2020, and thereby, in view of the Regulation 5 of the Indian Administrative Service (Appointment by Selection) Regulations, 1997, the entire process of recruitment through this source will be deemed to have lapsed.however, Haryana additional advocate general had refuted the argument and sought time to file an affidavit in this regard. The bench had directed the UPSC to clarify the same.
“This, without further debate, vindicates the stand of the petitioner that selection process has not been completed by December 31 last year and the same would be deemed to have lapsed,” Rajesh Garg, senior advocate of the petitioner had stated during the hearing while seeking directions to the UPSC to produce records relating to similar selections made in the past with regards to Haryana where they had conducted interviews and selection process after December 31.
The petitioner’s senior counsel had submitted that the UPSC had clearly stated in 2016 that since meeting of the selection committee could not be held by December 31, 2016, the posts for that year were deemed to have lapsed.
As per the petition, there are glaring discrepancies in the list forwarded to the UPSC for conducting interviews.
Though the names of candidates five times the number of vacant posts has to be forwarded by the state governments to the UPSC, 27 names have been forwarded to the commission.
“These include names of candidates who had not completed the requisite number of eight years of regular service in the rank of deputy collector as of January 1, 2019,” the petitioner said, seeking stay orders on the selection process during pendency of the writ petition.