The Supreme Court has reserved its order on a challenge to Karnataka’s law validating the 2011 recruitment of 362 gazetted probationers through the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), while directing both sides to file affidavits with a detailed break-up by October 26.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Vinod Chandran recorded that arguments had concluded and permitted applicants seeking impleadment or intervention to file brief notes in applications pending before the court. The proceedings concern the Karnataka High Court’s refusal to entertain a 2022 public interest litigation challenging the state law.
The recruitment process was cancelled by the Karnataka government in 2013 after CID reports identified alleged corruption and irregularities. Some selected candidates subsequently approached the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal and secured appointments. The High Court later set aside the tribunal’s order, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The state enacted a law in 2022 to validate the entire selection process. The High Court dismissed a challenge to that legislation on April 21, 2022, observing that the petitioners had not established that any provision was unconstitutional, illegal or void. Unsuccessful candidates then moved the Supreme Court against that decision.
Senior counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners, argued that the recruitment had been vitiated by irregularities. According to the submissions reported before the court, 566 candidates had secured identical marks and examination records were subsequently destroyed. The Supreme Court’s direction for affidavits requires the parties to provide the break-up sought by the bench before the order is delivered.
The case places the recruitment of public officials alongside questions about examination administration, record preservation and the use of legislation to validate a selection process previously cancelled by the executive. The material before the court includes the earlier CID findings, orders passed by the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal and the High Court, and the state’s later validation law.
The development comes amid separate investigations into alleged irregularities involving KPSC examinations. A special court in Bengaluru has remanded suspended KPSC chairperson Shivashankarappa Sahukar and member BV Geeta to 14 days in judicial custody after their arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on October 6 in an alleged job-for-cash case. The proceedings are separate from the Supreme Court challenge over the 2011 recruitment.
The CID has also sought government sanction to prosecute suspended IAS officer Gangwar over alleged involvement in leaking questions for a KPSC recruitment examination. The request followed a recent Supreme Court direction allowing the special investigation team to continue its probe along the lines of the CID investigation. The court’s order in the recruitment validation case is expected after the affidavits and intervention notes are filed.
