In a significant ruling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) to pay ₹1.5 lakh in costs for the wrongful rejection of a woman’s application for the HCS (Judicial Branch) 2023-24. The applicant, Divya Kalia, faced rejection prior to her interview stage due to alleged issues with her SC certificate and domicile certificate.
The court criticized HPSC’s handling of Kalia’s application, highlighting it as an example of the state’s mechanical and indifferent litigation approach. “The present case is an unsoothing illustration of how litigations are pursued on behalf of the state in a totally mechanical and indifferent fashion,” the bench noted, stressing the lack of due diligence and an apathetic approach that undermines responsible governance and judicial propriety.
Kalia, who had passed the written examination, was initially informed in September 2024 that her candidature was rejected because her SC certificate lacked a registration number and date in the prescribed location, and her domicile certificate was reportedly not submitted. However, the court found that her caste certificate from 2016 did have the necessary details, albeit in a different location than expected, which it described as a “trivial error” not attributable to Kalia but to the issuing authority.
The bench also confirmed that Kalia had indeed uploaded her domicile certificate, refuting HPSC’s claim. It emphasized the need for the state to differentiate responsibly between baseless and legitimate claims.
In its decision, the court lamented the wastage of judicial resources on frivolous and groundless disputes, which it said “consume time and clog the overburdened infrastructure, dissipating productive resources that should be deployed in handling genuine causes.”
The court has directed HPSC to take necessary steps regarding Kalia’s appointment and to distribute the imposed costs between the woman and the Poor Patients Welfare Society Fund at PGIMER, paying ₹50,000 to Kalia and ₹1 lakh to the fund. The payments are to be completed within two weeks. Additionally, the HPSC has been granted the liberty to recover these costs from the officials responsible for the error, and a compliance report is required by May 5.
