Cuttack: Orissa High Court on Saturday rapped heavily on the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) for adopting unfair norms in the submission of No Objection Certificate (NOC) and Discharge Certificate (DC) for government servants and ex-servicemen candidates.
According to the reports, the High Court was hearing a petition filed by an ex-serviceman of the Indian Navy, Kartik Senapati who had successfully cleared both the Prelims and Mains of Odisha Civil Services 2020. He had also cleared the personality test held on September 23, 2022.
Despite clearing all three stages of the recruitment process, Kartik was rejected. Later, he knocked on the doors of the High Court.
The High Court observed that the OPSC adopted different norms for government servants and ex-servicemen candidates in the submission process of their NOC and DC where government servants were given the liberty to produce the NOC and DC at the last stage of the recruitment process.
During the hearing, HC found that Kartik was rejected during document verification on the ground that his DC was issued after the last date of submission of the online application form, the report said.
The single judge bench of Justice AK Mohapatra said, “On a careful consideration of the aforesaid factual aspects, this Court is of the considered view that the clause providing for submission of the DC within the last date fixed for submission of application form is highly arbitrary and discriminatory. In such view of the matter, this court has no hesitation to hold that the OPSC had no authority to reject the candidature of Kartik Senapati.”
“The rejection order is unsustainable in the eyes of law,” Justice Mohapatra added.
As a result, the Court ordered OPSC to accept the DC submitted by Kartik and give him an appointment by reckoning his seniority from the date of his batchmates.
However, the petitioner shall not claim any salary or financial allowances for the precedent period.
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