Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging P&H Order Setting Aside EWS List For Punjab ADO Selection

The Supreme Court on April 7 issued notice in a plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's direction to quash and re-draw the merit lists for General and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) candidates in recruitments for Agriculture Development Officers. 

The bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Aravind Kumar agreed to consider the challenge against the order of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which quashed the merit list of Open and EWS candidates dated 17.07.2020 and directed the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to redraw the lists by treating top-ranking EWS candidates as General candidates.

The decision has been challenged by a group of General category candidates whose selection, based on superior marks, was annulled. The challenge has been filed mainly on the ground that the impugned decision arbitrarily displaces meritorious candidates in the General Category and violates Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution. 

 Background

The PPSC issued a recruitment advertisement announcing 141 vacancies for the post of Agriculture Development Officer.  A total of 55 posts were allocated to the General category, and 14 posts were reserved for EWS candidates, as per the 10% ceiling prescribed under the EWS reservation policy adopted by the State of Punjab.

Notably, Clauses 14 and 15 of the recruitment advertisement expressly stated that the category once selected by a candidate at the time of application would be final and unchangeable under any circumstances. 

Before the High Court, the Respondents had sought to quash the merit lists drawn on the ground that the last candidate scoring under the General Category had scored 255.40 marks while the last candidate under the EWS category scored 258.10 marks and as result, all the EWS candidates were shown as eligible. 

The Respondents thus sought that the EWS candidates be considered under the General Category appointments. The High Court allowed the petitions by placing reliance on the decision of the Apex Court in the cases of Janhit Abhiyan vs, Union of India and Rajesh Kumar Daria vs. Rajasthan Public Service Commission and others. The High Court held that the state was in violation of Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution. 

In Janhit Abhyan the Supreme Court by 3:2 majority upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which introduced 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and public employment.

In Rajesh Daria, the Supreme Court held that the Selection Process adopted by RPSC was contrary to the reservation policy contained in Rule 9 (3) of the Service Rule.

The High Court, while setting aside the merit lists, also directed the PPSC to redraw the merit list by including the respondents under the EWS category on basis of merit and not under reservation. It was also clarified that such meritorious EWS candidates are not to be considered towards the reservation quota. 

The Petitioners are being represented by a legal team led by Senior Advocate Gagan Gupta, with Abhinay Sharma, AOR, and Advocates Deeksha Prakash, Kirti Vyas, P.C. Roy, and Parul Khurana.

Case Details : Harpreet Singh & Ors v. Sikander Singh & Ors (SLP Diary No. 12413/2025)