The Rajasthan High Court has provided interim relief to candidates challenging eligibility conditions for the Sub-Inspector (SI) Recruitment, 2021, re-examination process. A single-judge bench of Justice Anand Sharma on Wednesday directed the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) to allow all petitioners to edit their application forms and provisionally appear in the proposed re-examination.
Background of the Case
The SI Recruitment, 2021, has remained under legal scrutiny since a single bench of the Rajasthan High Court cancelled the entire process on August 28, 2025, citing irregularities in the examination. A division bench later upheld the cancellation order on April 4, 2026. Selected trainee SIs challenged the decision before the Supreme Court, but it dismissed their Special Leave Petition on May 4, effectively clearing the way for a fresh recruitment process.
Petitioners' Arguments
Wednesday’s order was passed while hearing petitions filed by Prashanjeet Singh, Devendra Saini, Madhusudan Sharma, and others. Counsels for the petitioners, Ram Pratap Saini and Chitranshu Saini, argued that although they had applied for the original SI Recruitment, 2021, they could not appear in both examination papers for various reasons. “Some of the petitioners were ill and thus could not participate in the exam. There were also petitioners who were in isolation after recovering from Covid-19,” said Chitranshu.
After the cancellation of the recruitment process, the RPSC limited eligibility for the re-examination only to candidates who had appeared in both papers in 2021. “This would be unfair to candidates who had filled the form and got admission letters but could not participate in the exam,” said Ram Pratap.
The counsels contended that in earlier cases of cancelled recruitments, including the EO-RO and LDC examinations, all applicants were permitted to participate in the fresh exams. “Denying similar treatment in SI Recruitment, 2021, violated both Article 14 and Article 16 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before the law and equality of opportunity in government employment, respectively,” the petitioners argued.
RPSC's Response
RPSC submitted before the court that more than 4 lakh applicants had only filled forms without appearing in the exam, making scrutiny difficult. After hearing both sides, the court granted interim protection to the petitioners, allowing them to edit their application forms and provisionally appear in the re-examination.
