Supreme Court to hear on Monday HSSC's petition.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the petitions of the Haryana government and the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) jointly on Monday. These petitions have challenged the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to remove the five additional marks given in the Common Eligibility Test (CET). 

According to the agenda released on the Supreme Court website, a vacation bench of Justices Abhay S. Oak and Rajesh Bindal will hear the matter. Last week, the Supreme Court had agreed to postpone the hearing as the petitioner's lawyer had filed two more similar petitions against the High Court's decision of May 31. 

The High Court had rejected the Haryana government's policy under which five bonus marks are given on socio-economic basis to the candidates of Group C and D of Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) of this state. The High Court had said in its decision that no state has the right to give the benefit of five percent additional marks to its residents. 

The state government benefited some people who applied for these posts by making artificial classifications. Criticising this state government policy, it said in its decision that the government has made this entire selection very haphazardly. It is noteworthy that the state government had implemented this policy from May 5, 2022.

Last week, the top court agreed to postpone the hearing after the petitioner’s lawyer indicated that two similar petitions were pending before the Supreme Court against the High Court’s May 31 decision.

The Punjab & Haryana High Court ruled that since reservations had already been provided under the EWS category and for social backwardness through the Backward Class reservation, offering additional benefits based on socio-economic criteria would violate the 50 percent reservation limit established by the Supreme Court and acknowledged by the Constitution's framers.

The court stated that the socio-economic criteria introduced by the Haryana Government's Human Resources Department was arbitrary and discriminatory, unfairly benefiting some individuals over others.

The writ petitions before the Punjab & Haryana High Court argued that the provision of 5 percent bonus marks on various grounds violated Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Indian Constitution. They claimed it created unjust distinctions among equals based on residence, family income, place of birth, and social status. Additionally, they argued that the socio-economic criteria were established without collecting quantifiable data or conducting a comprehensive study.