The high court on Tuesday cancelled appointment of 820 amins (people having expertise in measuring land) in the state owing to irregularities in their selection.

The court also ordered fresh examination to be conducted for appointing the amins in the state. On June 23, the court had stayed their appointment, till their eligibility and validity of educational certificates were adjudicated.

A single bench of Justice A.K. Tripathi passed the order on a petition filed by Ravi Shankar Sinha and others in January. On February 18, the bench had directed additional director-general, vigilance, to hold a preliminary inquiry into the allegations made in the writ application and submit a report.

The court had also directed the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), through which these recruitments were made, to file a counter affidavit and made the chairman and the secretary of the panel liable to ensure that all assistance was rendered to the vigilance department and no impediment was created or they would be treated to be in contempt.

The bench had passed strict strictures against the SSC as it stated: "In each and every selection by the SSC, allegations are made and writs are filed, alleging many a wrongs, some of which have been found to be correct as well. There can be an aberration and human error in one or two cases but in cannot be the case for every selection process conducted by them."

The petitioner's advocate, Rajkumar Rajesh, said: "The vigilance, in its inquiry report, had stated that only two out of 820 candidates selected were found to be possessing valid degrees. The rest were found to be possessing fake degrees obtained from different NGOs in the state."