HC stays appointment letters in PAC recruitment

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has stayed the issuance of appointment letters to candidates selected for the posts of sub-inspector in civil police and platoon commander (PAC). The court found that prima facie several candidates belonging to the reserved category were selected in general category taking the benefit of horizontal reservation.

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has stayed the issuance of appointment letters to candidates selected for the posts of sub-inspector in civil police and platoon commander (PAC).

The court found that prima facie several candidates belonging to the reserved category were selected in general category taking the benefit of horizontal reservation. The court directed the UP Police Recruitment Board not to issue appointment letters to the selected candidates.

The order was passed by the single bench of justice Suneet Kumar on a petition filed by Ashish Kumar Pandey and 25 others. While passing the interim order, the court directed ADG (Police Recruitment Board) to file an affidavit by August 24.

Representing the petitioners, advocate Seemant Singh said, “The result of main examination declares cut-off marks of horizontal (special) reservation of women, ex-servicemen, etc, only in general category. No separate cut-off for candidates belonging to reserved category was prepared and they were adjusted in the general category only. This is in violation of the reservation policy and clause 3.3 of the advertisement for recruitment.”

The ADG, Police Selection Board was present in the court during the hearing of the case. The petitioners claimed that irregularities were committed in the selection process of the sub-inspector recruit- ment examination-2011 as horizontal reservation was wrongly applied and candidates of other categories were included in the list for the general category.