The Telangana High Court, in a recent judgment, struck down a government order that sought to increase service weightage points for the recruitment of Multi-Purpose Health Assistants (Female), and directed the respondent authorities to complete the recruitment process to fill 1,520 vacancies strictly in accordance with the selection procedure outlined in the original notification of July 2023.
Under the original recruitment Notification No 2/2023, the selection process was based on 100 points: 80 points for a written examination and a maximum of 20 points as weightage for service rendered on a contract or outsourcing basis. The challenged GO Ms No 133, issued on August 19, 2023, altered this ratio, reducing the written examination points to 70 and increasing the service weightage to 30 points.
The petitioner, Bommena Vanaja from Jagtial district, challenged this GO issued by the principal secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, which altered the selection criteria for posts of MPHA (F).
The judgment dated November 12, delivered by Justice Pulla Karthik, allowed the writ petition by setting aside the government decision to increase service weightage to 30 points for service in government hospitals/institutions/programmes for the post of MPHA (F).
The petitioner contended that this modification was arbitrary and in direct contravention of a binding precedent set by a full bench of the Telangana High Court in a 2020 order, which had established a maximum limit of 20 points for service weightage in such selections.
The respondents, represented by the Advocate General, argued that the hike in service points was a policy decision intended to acknowledge the long-standing services of contractual and outsourced employees, particularly those working in rural and tribal areas, some of whom had served for over 15 years in a grassroots-level post like MPHA (F).
They also pointed out that the petitioner filed the writ petition almost 16 months after the corrigendum was issued and just days before the examination, in which over 20,600 candidates appeared. However, the court dismissed the timing argument, noting that the corrigendum was issued before the last date for submitting applications, meaning the “rules were not changed in the middle of the game.”
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The court reviewed its own history of rulings, including the 2020 full bench order, which had categorically held that service weightage marks “shall not be more than 20 marks out of total marks of 100, or not more than 20 per cent of the total marks.” The court asserted that “this principle had attained finality and was binding upon State Government Services.”
In its final decision, the court ruled that the reliance placed by the respondents on policy autonomy was “misplaced and unfounded.” It concluded that the enhancement of service weightage marks from 20 to 30 is “directly contrary to the binding precedent of the Full Bench of this Court.”
Consequently, the writ petition was allowed.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
