High Court Stays ASO Selection Process In Odisha, Next Hearing On Sept 21

Cuttack: In a major ruling, the Orissa High Court on Wednesday stayed selection process for recruitment of Assistant Section Officers (ASOs) being undertaken by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC).

The order was passed by a single-judge bench and the next hearing is posted for September 21, sources said.

This came four days after the HC had directed the OPSC to publish the fresh merit list for recruitment of 796 ASOs in Group B posts in the Odisha Secretariat Service within six weeks. It had earlier rejected two petitions for review and recall of its May 19 order that had quashed the merit list prepared by OPSC.

The written examination was conducted by OPSC on August 27, 2022. While 1,48,888 candidates appeared the examination, the OPSC notified a merit list selecting 1,104 candidates for document verification and skill test, which was approximately 1.5 times of the 796 vacancies advertised, on November 7, 2022.

Following which, Rajat Kumar Mishra and four others, who were not among the shortlisted candidates, moved the court, challenging the introduction of cut-off marks for different subjects for preparing the merit list after the written examination. The high court then ruled that OPSC had no authority to fix the minimum qualifying mark subject-wise after the written test was over. “From the facts of the present case, it appears that the OPSC has acted mechanically without verifying the rules,” it had observed.

A review petition was filed by Kabita Jena and four others while Ruksana Ara Begum and four others filed a petition for its recall on the ground that the May 19 order was passed without including the candidates, who were in the merit list, as parties in the case. The single judge bench of Justice AK Mohapatra, however, rejected both petitions on the ground of lack of merit.