Supreme Court on Karnataka’s 2011 KPSC recruitment: Key facts

Bench: Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran.

Law struck down: Karnataka validation Act, 2022.

Original notification: November 2011, for 362 posts.

Order: fresh recruitment for vacant Group A and Group B posts.

Relief: a one-time age relaxation for 2011 candidates.

The court held that the 2011 recruitment was set aside because corruption and nepotism vitiated the entire selection, and not because of a mere procedural defect, according to the reports.

The court found no equitable basis to protect the selected candidates, whose appointments depended on the 2022 Act, according to LiveLaw.

The Karnataka Public Service Commission notified the recruitment in November 2011 to fill 362 gazetted probationer posts, according to the Daily Pioneer.

A Criminal Investigation Department inquiry followed complaints of irregularities, according to the same report.

The state cancelled the recruitment in 2014, and the Karnataka High Court upheld the cancellation in 2018, according to the Daily Pioneer, while another report gives different years, so the dates differ between reports.

The Supreme Court later declined to interfere with the High Court’s decision, according to the Daily Pioneer.

The state enacted the validation law in 2022, and it was challenged in the Supreme Court, according to the same report.

The Karnataka government must now notify fresh recruitment for the vacant Group A and Group B posts under the existing rules, according to LiveLaw.

Candidates from the 2011 recruitment, including the appellants and those not found tainted, get a one-time age relaxation to compete in the new recruitment, according to the reports.

Anyone selected in the fresh recruitment gets seniority only from the date of the new appointment, with no back wages or notional appointment for earlier years, according to LiveLaw.

For current employees who are selected again, their earlier service counts towards pension and retirement benefits, according to the reports.

Supreme Court of India (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0