Nomination to HCS executive branch stayed

CHANDIGARH: A division bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday stayed the process of nominations to the Haryana Civil Services executive branch and issued a notice to the state government.The order was passed by the bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gagoi and Justice A G Masih, on a PIL filed by engineer Anand Parkash challenging the process initiated by the state government to fill 15 vacancies of HCS executives. The state government, by taking theposts from the regular roaster, had issued notification on January 28 for makingadvance special recruitment to the service. It was contended by G Singh, counsel for the petitioner, that the recruitment was being carried out to accommodate people favoured by some influential ministers.Nocriteria for determining the merit of a candidate was framed, Singh claimed. Itwas further alleged that the recommending authorities like Chief Secretary,Financial Commissioner (Revenue) and FC (Development) influence the scrutiny ofcandidates in such a way that they became judges of their own cause. The Benchhas asked the Haryana government to file a reply to the notice by April26.