The Supreme Court has warned that it may strike down Karnataka’s 2022 law validating the recruitment of 362 candidates selected through the Karnataka Public Service Commission’s 2011 gazetted probationers examination. The court reserved its judgment after directing the applicants and the state government to file detailed affidavits by October 26.
A bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Vinod Chandran was hearing a special leave petition filed by Srinivasa T. and others challenging a Karnataka High Court order that had upheld the legislation. The bench also allowed applicants seeking to be impleaded or intervene in the proceedings to submit brief notes on the petitions that remain pending.
The case concerns the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of Gazetted Probationers of the 2011 Batch) Act, 2022. The law was enacted to give legal validity to a recruitment process that had faced allegations of irregularities and corruption, prolonged investigation and litigation.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners, told the court that the recruitment process had been affected by widespread irregularities. He alleged that 566 candidates had been awarded identical marks and that examination records had been destroyed, causing injustice to several candidates. According to the submissions reported in court, the High Court had earlier cancelled the recruitment process.
The KPSC issued a notification in November 2011 for 362 posts and subsequently conducted the examinations and published a provisional selection list. After the list was released, a candidate wrote to the then Advocate General alleging irregularities in the recruitment. Acting on the Advocate General’s recommendation, the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms filed a complaint at the Vidhana Soudha police station.
In June 2014, the then Congress government led by Siddaramaiah entrusted the investigation into the allegations to the Criminal Investigation Department. The CID later submitted an interim report, following which the government withdrew the recruitment notification. Some selected candidates challenged that decision before the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal. The tribunal directed the government to issue appointment letters to all selected candidates, but the Karnataka High Court later set aside the tribunal’s order. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the High Court’s decision, according to the report.
The dispute remained unresolved for years, leaving the selected candidates in uncertainty. Karnataka’s 2022 legislation sought to validate the selection list despite the earlier litigation. The Supreme Court’s latest warning places the legal protection provided by that law under renewed scrutiny. The state government and the petitioners must submit their detailed affidavits by October 26, after which the court is expected to proceed on the reserved matter.
