The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the recruitment process for 454 Pharmacy Officer posts at Baba Farid University of Health Sciences until the next hearing, following a petition seeking cancellation of the examination and re-examination in the Faridkot paper leak case.
The court has also issued a notice to the Punjab government on the plea, which alleged that the examination was compromised by an organised cheating racket.
Sukhbir Badal Targets AAP Government
SAD chief Sukhbir Badal reacted to the High Court order in a post on X, targeting Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains over the alleged paper leak.
“Guru Dokhi @bhagwantmann, super CM @arvindKejriwal and liar no. 1 @harjotbains ~ hope now you know
that it’s a paper leak and not a minor cheating case,” read his post on X.
He questioned whether the AAP government would take action against those responsible or whether Manish Sisodia would host what he described as a “made-up” dinner with professors.
The opposition has targeted the AAP government over the alleged cheating racket and demanded the resignation of Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains and Health Minister Balbir Singh.
Court Puts Recruitment Process On Hold
In an interim order passed on July 28, Justice Sandeep Moudgil directed that further selection for the Pharmacy Officer recruitment would remain subject to the outcome of the petition.
The petition, filed by Keshav Kamboj and others through advocate Sarthak Gupta, sought cancellation of the written examination held on July 19 for 454 Pharmacy Officer posts under the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
The petitioners also sought the quashing of all consequential steps based on the examination, including evaluation of answer sheets and preparation or declaration of the result.
They argued that the examination had been vitiated by an organised, hi-tech and inter-state cheating racket. They cited a Punjab Police press release issued on July 19 and an FIR registered the following day.
The petitioners alleged that the irregularities violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
As the Punjab government had already received an advance copy of the petition, Assistant Advocate General TPS Walia appeared for the state and sought time to file a written statement, according to the court order.
The matter was posted for further hearing on August 10.
Police Busted Cheating Racket
Punjab Police had on July 19 claimed to have busted a sophisticated inter-state cheating racket operating during the Pharmacy Officer examination.
Seven key conspirators and 28 candidates were arrested, while police recovered 27 battery-operated wireless cheating devices.
Police also detected the use of pen cameras and real-time dictation during the examination. According to police, the racket charged candidates between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 13 lakh to ensure passing marks.
Nearly 7,000 candidates appeared for the examination for 454 Pharmacy Officer posts across 25 centres in Faridkot, Kotkapura and Ferozepur.
The examination was conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences on behalf of the Health and Family Welfare Department.
