The aspirants of the Odisha Civil Services (OCS)-2011 examinations heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday when the Odisha High Court declined to grant a stay on the preliminary examinations scheduled to be held on January 19.
The preliminary examinations of the OCS by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) would be held as scheduled on January 19. This was made clear when the High Court dismissed a petition filed in this regard by one Mukesh Chandra Ghosh.
A division bench of Justices Madan Mohan Das and Raghuvir Das, however, endorsed the observation made by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) capping the reservation of posts to only 50 per cent of the vacancies.
“Out of the 494 vacancies as advertised by the OPSC in two phases, 247 posts shall remain unreserved and general candidates numbering 12 times of these unreserved posts will qualify to appear the main examinations,” said the petitioner’s advocate Ashok Kumar Mohapatra quoting a High Court order. The court also directed the SAT to dispose of all the cases pertaining to OCS-2011 before the summer vacations so that the main examinations are conducted smoothly without any confusion.
The OPSC had made advertisements for recruitment of several cadres of OCS posts, including the Odisha Administrative Services in two phases in November and December 2011. Out of 494 posts advertised, a whopping 318 (more than 64 per cent) posts were kept reserved for various categories, leaving a meagre 176 posts for the general aspirants.
Challenging the anomaly in the reservation, Ghosh had approached the SAT stating that reserving more than 50 per cent of posts was violating the Supreme Court and State High Court’s rulings made earlier.
The tribunal, while disposing of the application of Ghosh earlier this month, had asked the OPSC not to exceed the reservation of posts over 50 per cent limit and accordingly asked the OPSC to go ahead with the examinations as planned. It ruled that appointment to the posts shall not be made without the leave of the tribunal.
Encouraged by the tribunal’s order of limiting the reservation to 50 per cent but not satisfied by its order not to interfere with the schedule of the examinations, Ghosh then moved the HC seeking to quash the OPSC advertisements and thereby seeking to cancel the preliminary examinations scheduled on January 19 this year.