Haryana questioned on ‘nepotism’ in bureaucrats’ selection

CHANDIGARH - The Punjab and Haryana High Court Tuesday issued notices to the Haryana government and the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) over alleged nepotism in the recent selections for the state’s civil and allied services.

Justice Mahesh Grover issued the notices and sought replies by April 6, the next date of hearing.

The notices were issued on a petition filed by Lalit Jain and others, challenging the validity of the selections made by the HPSC to Haryana Civil Services and allied services Jan 4.

The court also ordered that the appointment of selected candidates shall be subject to the outcome of the petition.

Lawyers Satya Pal Jain and Dheeraj Jain, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the entire selection process was vitiated by favouritism and nepotism.

They said that the selected candidates included close relatives of at least three out of five HPSC members, who constituted the selection committee.

“Not only this, close relatives of the Haryana Chief Minister (Bhupinder Singh Hooda), his wife, MPs and senior officers of the Haryana government are also in the selection list,” the petition said.

The petition brought to the notice of the court that though all the petitioners had secured more than 60 percent marks in the written test, their total scores were brought down in the final list by giving them around 10 to 25 percent marks in the interview.

“On the other side, most of the selected candidates, especially belonging to the influential families, who secured below 60 percent marks in the written test, were given around 80 to 90 percent marks in the interview to enable them to jump the cut-off point,” the petition said.

The petition sought the quashing of the entire selection process and fresh appointments.