The Orissa High Court has extended its restriction on the publication of the final merit list for the recruitment of Assistant Section Officers (ASOs) in Group B posts in the Odisha Secretariat Service until January 19, 2023.
According to a report by TNIE, the court imposed the restriction while considering a writ petition that challenged the introduction of the shortlisting procedure for candidates, arguing that it contravened the provisions of the Odisha Secretariat Service (Method of Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2016.
On December 2, the court issued an interim order stating that the selection process for ASO positions could continue as scheduled, but that the final merit list should not be published or notified until the next date. The Single Judge Bench of Justice AK Mohapatra extended the interim order until the next date (January 19) after the state government and the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) filed counter affidavits in response to notices issued by the court.
The petition was filed by Rajat Kumar Mishra and four others, who argued that the introduction of cut-off marks for different subjects by the OPSC was outside of its scope and jurisdiction. The petitioners had brought the matter to the high court after their names were not included among the shortlisted candidates notified by the OPSC on November 7, 2022.
In a counter affidavit, Deputy Secretary Law Department Subrat Kumar Panda, however, stated that the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) has the competence to prescribe cut-off marks in all or four subjects and this cannot be questioned under judicial review by the Orissa High Court on the basis of facts and circumstances.
In another counter affidavit, Additional Secretary OPSC Nigamananda Panda stated that qualifying marks cannot be fixed in the advertisement itself prior to the written examination. He explained that the minimum qualifying marks for each subject depends on the relative performance of candidates on the particular written examination and can only be determined by verifying the database of marks after evaluating the answer scripts. This allows for the determination of the minimum qualifying marks necessary to select an adequate number of candidates in the zone of consideration.
Panda stated that 1,48,888 candidates appeared in the written examination, of which, 2,408 candidates secured the requisite qualifying marks in each subject. Out of these 2,408 candidates, 1,104 were provisionally shortlisted on the basis of their aggregate scores for document verification and skill testing, which was approximately 1.5 times the number of advertised vacancies (796). Additionally, Panda noted that the state government had authorised the OPSC to fix qualifying marks in any or all subjects of the examination.
