Jabalpur High Court Sets Aside Disputed Part Of MP Police Merit List

A decade-old dispute linked to the 2013 recruitment of Subedar, Sub-Inspector (SI) and Platoon Commander posts in Madhya Pradesh has come back into focus after the Jabalpur High Court set aside the disputed part of the final merit list issued on 7 April 2015.

The High Court has directed that a fresh merit list be prepared within 12 weeks. The order concerns the controversial portion of the 2015 list, not the entire recruitment process.

The case mainly related to the selection of candidates against unreserved posts after they had taken the benefit of relaxation in the age limit. Hearing six petitions, the court said that under the rules, a candidate who had become eligible by taking any kind of relaxation could not be given the benefit of selection against an unreserved post on that same basis.

The petitioners claimed that they had secured 162 marks and were just one mark behind the cutoff for the related SI post. Their first preference was the SI post in the District Police Force. However, after the merit list and post allocation process, they were allotted the post of Platoon Commander.

The petitioners had alleged that some candidates from reserved categories were adjusted against unreserved posts despite having received the benefit of relaxation in the age limit. According to them, this affected their merit position.

The High Court considered the provisions of the 2013 recruitment rules important and directed that the disputed unreserved adjustments be removed. At the same time, the court has not cancelled the entire recruitment or the appointments of the candidates concerned.

Only the disputed adjustment made against unreserved posts will now be reviewed again. This means the fresh exercise will be limited to the portion of the merit list that was found to be in dispute.

The state and the selection board will now have to prepare a new list on the basis of the rules, the eligibility of candidates, merit and post preference. The fresh merit list will also determine how the post allocation is to be reconsidered for the affected candidates.

With the High Court’s order, the position of candidates affected in this nearly ten-year-old recruitment dispute has once again come under scrutiny. The status of candidates who had secured 162 marks, and whose preference was the SI post in the District Police Force but who were allotted the Platoon Commander post, will be examined again as part of the revised merit and post allocation process.