HC directs assembly to appoint 2 toppers on merit list of reporters

Cuttack: Holding that a recruiting authority cannot arbitrarily scrap a completed selection process without cogent reasons, Orissa high court has quashed the Odisha legislative assembly secretariat’s decision to cancel the 2021 recruitment of reporters and directed it to appoint two candidates who had figured at the top of the final merit list.Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra set aside the July 21, 2023 cancellation order and directed the secretary of Odisha legislative assembly to complete all remaining formalities and issue appointment letters to the two candidates within four weeks of receiving the certified copy of the judgment. The ruling effectively revives the 2021 recruitment process in so far as the two candidates are concerned.The judgment was delivered on July 3 on the petition filed by the two candidates - Sourava Rout and Biswajyoti Behera.

The web copy of the order was released on Saturday.Justice Mishra said the authorities failed to justify the decision to annul the recruitment after the petitioners had successfully completed every stage of the selection process. “The petitioners have a legal right to pray for setting aside the said cancellation notice and to seek for a direction... for their appointment... as the opposite parties have failed to plead and prove...

that the decision... to cancel the entire process of selection.

.. was justified," the judge observed.The recruitment was initiated through an advertisement issued on Jan 26, 2021 for seven reporter posts. Rout, a general category candidate, and Behera, an SC candidate, were placed at serial numbers one and two, respectively, in the final select list published on June 29, 2021. However, appointment letters were never issued as the selection board deferred its meeting without assigning any reason.The dispute reached the high court earlier, which on May 19, 2023 directed the assembly secretariat to take a final decision on the appointments. Instead, while challenging that order in appeal, the selection board cancelled the entire recruitment process on July 21, 2023, citing non-availability of original records relating to the selection for verification.Justice Mishra rejected the explanation, holding that the authorities had wrongly interpreted the earlier judgment as permitting a fresh decision on the entire recruitment process.The judge further noted that there was “no ambiguity” in its earlier judgment and that the assembly secretariat, instead of implementing the directions, chose to misinterpret them while the writ appeal was pending.