New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a Karnataka law that sought to validate appointments arising from the state›s tainted 2011 recruitment of gazetted probationers.
Holding that the legislature cannot override judicial decisions that had already upheld the cancellation of the selection process, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran allowed appeals challenging the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022, under which appointments had been made despite earlier findings of widespread corruption and nepotism in the recruitment process.
“We have no doubt in our minds that the subject legislation is unconstitutional. We set aside the same, as also the judgments impugned herein, both in the PIL and the writ petition filed against the order of the KAT (Karnataka Administrative Tribunal). The PIL, though not agitated by the individual who filed it, would stand allowed, transposing the appellants herein as the petitioners,” the judgment said.
The court also directed the Karnataka government to initiate fresh recruitment against the vacancies that remain in Group A and Group B services under the existing recruitment rules.
It also ordered a one-time age relaxation for specified categories of candidates, including the six appellants, eligible candidates from the earlier selection and petitioners in pending proceedings before the KAT.
Moulding the relief, the bench directed the state government to notify the recruitment for the vacant posts.
«Insofar as the persons who are continuing now, if selected, their seniority shall also be only from the date of their fresh appointment as per the selection and recruitment directed by us. However, if the persons working now are selected and appointed, the period they have been in service pursuant to their earlier appointment shall be reckoned for computation of their pension and retirement benefits,» it said.
The recruitment, notified on November 3, 2011, was intended to fill 362 posts. Of the 1,38,307 candidates who applied, 91,667 appeared for the preliminary examination, 6,211 qualified for the main examination and 1,090 were called for interviews.
