Srinagar: The High Court has directed the Union Territory authorities to take a decision on the fate of a recruitment process initiated by the erstwhile Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) in 2016, observing that the selection process should proceed as though the government’s 2019 cancellation order had never been issued.
The direction was passed by Justice Sanjay Dhar while disposing of a 2020 writ petition, filed by candidates who had applied for the posts of Accounts Assistant/Junior Auditor and Junior Assistant/Record Keeper pursuant to KVIB Advertisement Notice No. KVIB/01 of 2016 dated October 8, 2016.
According to the petitioners, six candidates had applied for the Accounts Assistant/Junior Auditor posts, while three others had applied for Junior Assistant/Record Keeper.
The candidates appeared in the written examination and were shortlisted. The candidates for Junior Assistant/Record Keeper subsequently appeared in and qualified the type test held pursuant to a notification issued on February 14, 2018.
All the petitioners later appeared in interviews.
However, while selection lists were issued for several other posts, including Executive Officer, Publicity Officer, Assistant Executive Officer, Field Publicity Officer and Junior Statistical Assistant, no selection list was issued for the posts applied for by the petitioners.
The candidates subsequently approached the court. During related proceedings, the government issued Order No.127-IND of 2019 dated June 28, 2019, cancelling the entire selection process.
The High Court noted that the 2019 cancellation order had already been quashed in earlier litigation.
A Division Bench, in its judgment dated December 17, 2024, had directed the authorities to reinstate candidates who had already been appointed, while leaving the government free to conduct a fresh inquiry.
The Supreme Court subsequently dismissed the Special Leave Petition challenging that judgment on March 23, 2026.
Justice Dhar today, however, declined to direct the appointment of the present petitioners.
The bench pointed out that, unlike the candidates covered by the earlier Division Bench judgment, the petitioners in the present case had never received selection lists or appointment orders.
Consequently, there was no basis for directing their selection or appointment, it said.
At the same time, the court made it clear that quashing the 2019 government order requires the authorities to reconsider the recruitment process.
The government may either conduct a fresh inquiry and act on its findings or take the selection process to its logical conclusion, the court said.
The writ petition was accordingly disposed of with directions to the respondents to decide the fate of the 2016 recruitment process by either concluding it or taking such other action as may be considered appropriate after an inquiry into the matter.
