The Karnataka government is likely to move a review petition after the Supreme Court struck down the 2022 Act validating the 2011 KPSC batch. The fate of 190 officers hangs in the balance after this unprecedented order. Affected officials met Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday seeking urgent legal help.
The State government, which faced a setback after the Supreme Court struck down the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022, is likely to move a review petition before the apex court even as the fate of about 190 officers hangs in the balance.
The scrapping of an entire recruitment process undertaken by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) is unprecedented. Though the 1998-1999 batch also went through decades of legal wrangling, it did not face a similar fate.
While the affected officers, now posted in different departments, met Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar here on Friday seeking help from the government to tide over the crisis, sources close to the Chief Minister said that it is likely that the government would seek the opinion of legal experts and move the apex court with a review petition.
Six with Ministers
A senior government functionary said that those affected included six officials now working with six Cabinet Ministers. Officials who are now at the receiving end also huddled together to discuss their future course of action, an affected official said, expressing shock at the turn of events.
According to a former member of the KPSC, who has seen the entire saga play out in the last decade, although the notification was to recruit 362 gazetted officers, the actual number recruited was about 190 officers. “Many of those selected in 2011 also cleared subsequent gazetted probationers’ examinations and chose to enter the services from those examinations. A couple of those selected are dead, and one official has retired. Many who were selected from categories that receive age relaxation, including those reserved for ex-servicemen, are close to retirement,” the member pointed out.
Jinxed batch of 2011
The 2011 gazetted probationers’ examination was jinxed in many ways. In 2013, during the course of holding interviews for those selected from the main examination, the election to the State Assembly was announced, and interviews were postponed after much deliberation with the Election Commission of India.
When the results were finally announced, allegations of corruption and favouritism surfaced. The matter went to the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal; the State government also cancelled the recruitment notification itself, and many candidates who believed they were slighted also staged a protest at Freedom Park. A CID inquiry was launched to probe the corruption allegations.
In the course of time, the matter reached the High Court. Eventually, the then BJP government — after an appeal by leaders from across parties — enacted the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022, after which the selected candidates were given appointment orders.
From across political spectrum
The 2011 Batch of Gazetted Probationers received support from across the political spectrum despite allegations of corruption and nepotism in the recruitment process, which a CID probe had exposed.
Top political leadership, including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, former Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy, besides Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, were among the many who urged the governments at various points in time to offer jobs to the selected 362.
Some recommendations urged the government to appoint the selected 362 on “humanitarian grounds.”
The government received recommendations from a large number of senior politicians across the State. While Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the “innocent” candidates had been denied the principles of natural justice, Mr. Kumaraswamy urged the government to provide justice to “the wounded innocent candidates”. Seers of Sri Muruga Mutt and Siddaganga Mutt were among the religious leaders to urge the government to accept the list.
The issue was discussed in both Houses of the Legislature in 2020, where the demand for an ordinance to be promulgated eventually culminated in the passing of the now-struck-down Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022.
Members had also warned of the violation of Article 323(2) if the selection list submitted by the KPSC to the government is rejected without the Legislative approval.