The Punjab & Haryana High Court dismissed a writ petition challenging the final selection result for the post of Assistant Environmental Engineer, observing that a reserved category candidate who has availed relaxation at any stage of the examination process, including the preliminary/screening, is not entitled to allocation against the unreserved category.
The case arose from the petitioner’s challenge to the final result dated December 12, 2025, issued by the Haryana Public Service Commission to fill 29 posts. The petitioner, who applied under the BC-B category, qualified for the screening test and subject knowledge test but was not selected in the final result.
Petitioner submits that a BC-B candidate, Nikhil Yadav, after securing higher marks than the last general category candidate, ought to have been migrated to the general category, which would have enabled the petitioner’s selection. Further, it has been canvassed that since marks obtained in the screening test were not counted for final merit and the said candidate had availed relaxation only at the stage, such relaxation was inconsequential and immaterial to the final selection process. On the other hand, the commission canvassed that the candidate has secured marks below the general category cut-off in the screening test and was shortlisted only by availing the relaxed standard applicable to BC-B candidates.
Hearing the petition, the Bench of Justice Harpreet Singh Brar held that a screening test in a multi-stage selection process operates as a filtering mechanism, and any relaxation at that stage confers a tangible and decisive advantage by gaining access to the subsequent stage of selection. The court held that the submission that the screening stage is of no consequence, merely because its marks are not carried forward, is fundamentally misconceived.
Relying on the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Union of India vs. G. Kiran & Ors. (2026 INSC 15), the Court has reiterated that once a reserved candidate avails relaxation at any stage of the examination, including the preliminary/screening stage, they cannot thereafter claim allocation against an unreserved vacancy. Hence, the court dismissed the writ petition.
Appearances:
Advocate Vivek Salathia for the petitioner.
Addl. A.G., Haryana Piyush Khanna.
Advocate Preeti Chhikara, for Advocate Vikrant Pamboo for respondent No.2.
Advocate Kanwal Goyal for respondent No.3-HPSC.
