SI recruitment 2021: Raj HC flags deep ‘systemic failure’

Jaipur: When Rajasthan high court cancelled the Sub-Inspector Recruitment 2021 on Saturday, it did so while calling the exercise a "systemic failure" that had "irreversibly damaged the credibility of the process". In its order, uploaded late Saturday night, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sangeeta Sharma said the recruitment was "vitiated at multiple levels, making it impossible to salvage".The court said the question paper leak was not an isolated incident but part of a "well-organised and coordinated network", with several candidates accessing the paper before the examination.Seeking a reform of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, the nodal authority that conducts the exam, the court also pointed to failures in exam management. For instance, the bench noted that internet services were not suspended during the test, biometric or fingerprint verification were absent, and blurred photographs on admit cards made it difficult to detect impersonation. "These gaps enabled the use of dummy candidates and unfair means on a large scale," the court observed.The court also noted that the fairness of the process was completely compromised. "When the selection process itself is vitiated, any appointment based on it cannot be considered valid," it said, adding that once the integrity of the examination is lost, the process becomes legally unsustainable.The judgment also referred to the use of Bluetooth devices and the role of organised gangs and coaching networks in circulating leaked papers across the state. "Isolating only ‘tainted candidates' was neither practical nor legally sustainable, as the entire process stood compromised," the court said.Rejecting claims by selected candidates that they cleared the exam fairly, the court held, "No right to appointment exists unless the recruitment process is fair, transparent, and legally valid," and said cancellation was the only just course."In such cases, the court should not hesitate to take strict decisions," the bench said.