New Delhi, July 25: The Supreme Court has issued notices on a petition filed by a reception clerk of the Odisha Legislative Assembly who was shown the door after holding the post for eight years.

The bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice J. Chelameswar yesterday issued the notices on an appeal by Asis K. Pradhan, against the June 26, 2012, Orissa High Court order quashing his selection to the post.

Pradhan contended that the high court had wrongly set aside his appointment by holding that he was a candidate of the unreserved category. He claimed that he had been appointed to a post reserved for candidates from socially and educationally backward classes. “No cogent reasons have been assigned by the high court while quashing his selection and directing a fresh selection,” his appeal said.

The high court had also permitted a person, who had not been selected for the post and had challenged Pradhan’s appointment, to sit for a fresh selection despite being overage while not permitting Pradhan to do so, his appeal said.

The high court ignored the fact that the selection had been challenged some 40 months after it was made. Pradhan had joined the post consequent to his appointment on Feb 26, 2004. The high court had cancelled the selection on the ground that marks had been manipulated in the viva voce test as a result of which Pradhan got the post.

Pradhan argued that the high court ought not to have probed the wisdom of the members of the interview board to make a roving inquiry into allegations of manipulation.