Punjab HC stays appointment of 454 pharmacy officers over cheating racket row

Punjab HC stayed the appointment of 454 pharmacy officers over allegations of an organised cheating racket in the July 19 exam. The court also stayed recruitment for 41 Block Programme Managers and 44 Cluster Coordinators over alleged irregularities in mark allocation.Punjab HC stayed the appointment of 454 pharmacy officers over allegations of an organised cheating racket.The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the appointment of 454 pharmacy officers in Punjab until the next hearing on September 17, raising questions over the state's recruitment process.The court passed the stay order on a plea filed by Keshav Kamboj and others, who sought cancellation of the written examination held on July 19 for recruitment to posts under the Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department. The petitioners alleged that an organised cheating racket had compromised the examination.The BJP on Thursday targeted AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal over the court's order and said it had raised serious questions about the Punjab government's recruitment process.Addressing reporters in New Delhi, BJP MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi asked whether Kejriwal would now seek the resignation of the Punjab government. He also linked the issue to the Opposition's conduct in Parliament and alleged that leaders who claim to speak for students have remained silent on developments in Punjab and Jharkhand. Trivedi said the High Court's order raised a "very serious question" about the recruitment process."So now we want to ask Kejriwal ji, who remained silent on the issues from Jharkhand to Punjab. When your government's lie is proved in court, will you now seek its resignation?" he said. The High Court has also stayed another recruitment process in Punjab until the next hearing. On Wednesday, it stayed the recruitment of 41 Block Programme Managers and 44 Cluster Coordinators under the Punjab State Rural Livelihoods Mission until the next hearing on September 2.The recruitment process for these posts started in January, and the authorities declared the results in February. The examination carried 70 marks, while the interview, qualifications and experience carried 10 marks each.The petitioners argued that the declared results did not clearly show how candidates received the remaining 30 marks apart from the written examination. The results only mentioned the candidates' total marks without specifying the marks awarded for each component.The High Court summoned the complete records and constituted a committee comprising lawyers and officials from the Rural Development Department to examine them. The committee found irregularities in the allocation of marks during its investigation.Based on the committee's findings, the High Court stayed the recruitment process until the next hearing.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 13, 2026 13:13 IST