CUTTACK: In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court has held that candidates who secure high marks in a recruitment examination cannot be disqualified merely on the ground of having a poor academic record.
Delivering judgment on a batch of 242 petitions, a single judge bench of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy quashed actions taken by the Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC) against 337 candidates who had participated in the Combined Recruitment Examination-2023. The exam was conducted for 719 posts of livestock inspector, 316 forester and 1,677 forest guard posts.
The computer-based recruitment examination (CBRE) was held across 95 centres in Odisha between April 24 and May 7, 2024. Although 8,496 candidates qualified in the written test, only 8,159 were permitted to appear for the physical test. The remaining 337 candidates, including the petitioners, were barred on suspicion of unfair means, primarily due to their unexpectedly high scores despite weak academic backgrounds.
Following a high court order on September 3, 2025, these candidates were allowed to take the physical test, in which 314 qualified. However, on grounds of adoption of unfair means their candidature was again put in jeopardy through a show cause notice issued on February 19, 2025, and a subsequent order dated October 10, 2025, requiring them to undergo a fresh test to validate their merit.
The court found these actions unjustified. It observed that neither of the inquiry committees had detected any malpractice or irregularity in the conduct of the examination. The suspicion was based largely on assumptions that candidates with poor academic histories could not perform well in the written test.
Rejecting this reasoning, Justice Satapathy ruled, “Since petitioners having poor academic record have secured high rank in the recruitment test, it cannot be on mere assumption be taken as a ground to make them ineligible and to direct them to appear a further test in order to make them eligible to keep their position in the select list.”
He quashed both the show cause notice and the impugned order and directed the Commission to recommend the petitioners for appointment within three weeks. The state departments were instructed to complete the appointment process promptly.