Jaipur: In a decisive move, the state govt informed the Rajasthan High Court Tuesday it would not cancel the controversial 2021 sub-inspector recruitment examination, despite allegations of paper leaks and use of dummy candidates. After months of protests for and against the demand to cancel the exam as well as the court’s directives for administrative clarity in the matter, the state govt finally made its stand clear during the hearing before the single bench of Justice Sameer Jain.Advocate general Rajendra Prasad, representing the state govt, said, “The decision to continue with the recruitment process is based on recommendations by a cabinet sub-committee which met on June 28 and subsequently approved by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma.” Prasad informed the court that just 53 candidates out of the 838 selected (6.3%) were found to be involved in exam malpractices. “These tainted candidates have already been terminated or suspended from the police service,” he said. Additional advocate general Vigyan Shah outlined four key recommendations made by the committee, including continued investigation by the special investigation team (SIT) and debarment of any tainted candidates discovered in the future. “The committee has also recommended age relaxation for candidates in upcoming SI recruitment exams,” said Shah. “With any decision in the matter, a situation should not arise where we cannot differentiate between right and wrong in the recruitment process,” he added.Senior advocate RN Mathur, representing the selected candidates, supported the govt’s decision, arguing that cancelling the entire recruitment process would unfairly punish innocent candidates for the actions of a few tainted ones. “The state govt’s decision is fair. If the recruitment is cancelled, everyone will have to bear the brunt of the mistake of a few people,” said Mathur.The govt decision was opposed by lawyers of petitioners seeking cancellation of the exam. Senior advocate Major RP Singh and advocate Harendra Neel, on behalf of the petitioners, pointed out that the same sub-committee had previously recommended cancellation of the recruitment process. “When the same sub-committee can make two different recommendations, then the high court also has the right to do a judicial review of the govt decision,” said Singh. The high court has scheduled the final hearing of the matter for July 7, when a definitive decision is expected to be reached on this contentious case.
Raj govt stands by SI recruitment exam, refuses to cancel it | Jaipur News
