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Ranchi, Nov 4 (IANS) The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday maintained an interim stay on the recruitment process for 421 female supervisor posts under the state child welfare department and put the recruitment on hold till the next hearing on Thursday, November 6.
A bench of Justice Anand Sen heard petitions challenging the appointment process notified by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).
The petitioners questioned the legality of restricting recruitment exclusively to women candidates and argued that providing 100 per cent reservation to any category is a violation of constitutional provisions.
Advocate Sanjay Piparwal, appearing for JSSC, defended the advertisement saying the posts fall under the “women’s cadre” created specifically for roles related to women and child welfare. Therefore, he said, eligibility was deliberately limited to women candidates.
Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, representing the state government, also justified the reservation and said the posts are designed to ensure effective implementation of child protection and women-centric welfare schemes, where women observers are necessary.
JSSC had advertised 421 posts of women supervisors in September 2023. The exam was conducted almost a year later in September 2024 and the results were declared later.
However, several candidates excluded from the selection list approached the High Court alleging arbitrary disqualification.
He argued that JSSC rejected his candidature on the ground that his educational qualification was in subsidiary subjects rather than in the main subjects mentioned in the advertisement. He claimed that the rules do not clearly state that an associate-subject degree will be considered ineligible for the post.
After hearing the preliminary arguments, the court said that the interim stay on the appointment process will continue until the matter is investigated in detail. The case has been listed for next hearing on November 6.
–IANS
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