Shocking: Rajasthan High Court on zero cut-off for reserved categories in recruitment, warns of serious action

The Rajasthan High Court recently asked the State government to explain why it had fixed cut-off marks as low as zero for recruiting Class IV government employees under reserved categories [Vinod Kumar S/o Pyarelal v The State Of Rajasthan].

Calling the situation shocking, Justice Anand Sharma said the matter requires serious consideration as it raises concerns about maintaining basic standards in public employment.

“The State, as the appointing authority, is expected to ensure minimum standards in recruitment even for reserved category, so that selected candidates are capable of performing basic duties satisfactorily, may be of Class-IV employee. A person who secures near zero or negative marks cannot reasonably be considered suitable,” the Court said.

The Court passed the order on a writ petition stating that in a recent recruitment process for Class-IV Employees in a government department, the cut-off marks for some reserved categories were as low as 0.0033.

Surprisingly, the petitioner’s grievance was that his candidature was rejected only because he secured negative marks (below zero), even though no minimum qualifying marks were prescribed.

Calling the situation unacceptable, the Court observed that either the examination was unnecessarily difficult for such entry-level posts or that proper standards were not maintained. 

No proper explanation has been given for not fixing minimum qualifying marks, the Court noted.

Accordingly, the Court directed the State counsel to file an affidavit of the Principal Secretary of the concerned Department explaining this serious lapse and the reasons behind fixing such cut-off marks, and the steps proposed to improve “such objectionable situation.”

“If no satisfactory explanation is given, the Court may take it seriously and pass strict orders while drawing adverse inferences,” the Bench warned.

The matter will be heard next on March 9.

Additional Advocate General Kapil Prakash Mathur and Advocate Sandeep Maheshwari appeared for the State.

Advocates Harendar Neel, Amogh Gupta and Rohan Gupta appeared for the petitioner.

[Read Order]