Guwahati, August 30, 2024 — The Gauhati High Court has issued a pivotal order mandating the appointment of candidates who were initially denied positions as Junior Engineers (Civil) in Assam’s Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD) Department despite having higher marks. This decision, announced by Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi, follows a writ petition from candidates belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) who challenged their exclusion.
The recruitment process began with an advertisement on June 24, 2020, for 344 Junior Engineer (Civil) positions, with 33 reserved for EWS candidates. The petitioners argued that, despite securing merit-based selections, they were denied employment due to discrepancies concerning their EWS certificates, which were issued during the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
The petitioners claimed that their EWS certificates were valid according to the guidelines at the time, and their rejection was unwarranted as the advertisement did not specify detailed requirements for the certificates. They highlighted that some candidates with lower scores were selected over them.
In its ruling, the court found that the recruitment advertisement did not provide explicit instructions regarding the EWS certificate format, creating ambiguity. Justice Medhi noted that EWS reservations were a recent introduction in 2019 and that the standardization of certificate formats did not occur until 2022, which contributed to the confusion.
The court deemed the rejection of the petitioners’ certificates unreasonable due to the evolving nature of EWS policies and the lack of clear guidelines. Consequently, Justice Medhi directed the P&RD Department to proceed with the appointment of the petitioners as Junior Engineers, addressing the specific circumstances of this case.