The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has ordered an immediate stay on the further joining of candidates for the Review Officer (RO) and Assistant Review Officer (ARO) Recruitment Examination 2023. The order, issued on Friday, comes in response to a legal challenge alleging discrepancies in how reservation policies were applied during the selection process.
A division bench consisting of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjeev Shukla passed the interim order during the hearing of a special appeal filed by Vivek Yadav and several others. The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 12 to further examine the merits of the dispute.
The Core of the Dispute
The legal battle stems from an appeal against a February 1, 2026, decision by a single-judge bench, which had previously refused to grant interim relief to the petitioners.
Representing the appellants, advocate Alok Mishra argued that there were significant irregularities in the preliminary examination results. Mishra submitted to the court that his clients, who belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, secured higher marks than at least 25 candidates from the general category who were selected for the mains examination. Despite their higher scores, the appellants were declared unsuccessful in the preliminary test and were barred from progressing in the recruitment cycle.
State and UPPSC Response
The stay was met with opposition from the state government and the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC). Legal representatives for the state informed the bench that the recruitment process is largely complete, noting that most of the successful candidates have already been appointed to their respective positions.
Despite these arguments, the bench opted to pause any further joining to ensure the integrity of the selection process until the reservation concerns are addressed. All eyes are now on the upcoming May 12 hearing, which is expected to provide further clarity on the fate of the 2023 recruitment drive.
