Punjab and Haryana High Court suspends clause providing 20 marks on basis of descent, Haryana domicile

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, January 20

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has prima facie asserted that confining the benefit of socio economic criteria and awarding 20 marks on the basis of descent or Haryana domicile in a recruitment process was violative of the Constitution.

The Division Bench of Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur also suspended till further orders a clause in assistant engineers’ recruitment advertisement dealing with “socio-economic criteria and experience” and providing 20 marks on basis of descent or to Haryana domicile applicants.

“Having regard to the principles of law laid down by the Supreme Court in cases cited by the counsel for the petitioner, we prima facie agree with the contentions of the petitioner that confining of the benefit of socio-economic criteria and awarding 20 marks there for on basis of descent or domicile in the State of Haryana is violative of Article 16(2) of the Constitution of India,” the Bench asserted.

The Bench was hearing a petition against the State of Haryana and other respondents by Arpit Gahlawat through counsel Sarthak Gupta. Among other things, he was seeking the quashing of advertisement dated December 20, 2022, for filling up the posts of Assistant Engineers (electrical cadre) in the electrical discipline. Directions were also sought for quashing a regulation of DHBVNL Service of Engineers (Electrical) Regulations, 2020, and other similar amendments to the extent that 20 out of 100 marks had been earmarked for the “socio-economic criteria and experience” by making it dependent on descent or Haryana domicile.

Among other things, Gupta contended the grant of such additional marks was nothing, but a form of reservation. The action was unsustainable since the marks were to be given only to applicants having Haryana domicile and also on basis of descent.

The State counsel, on the other hand, refuted the contentions before submitting that 20 marks had been earmarked in the impugned advertisement since requests were received from the candidates who had applied in earlier recruitment of Assistant Engineers, through GATE-2019, which was cancelled through public notice dated October 4, 2019.

They had prayed for considering them also in the present recruitment process. “To give fair and equal chance to those candidates who had applied in earlier advertisement of GATE-2019, it was proposed to consider the GATE-19 result and socio-economic criteria and experience also as a special case and one time measure in addition to requirement of GATE-2020 result in the present recruitment,” it was added.