Cuttack, June 27: Orissa High Court has directed that the stay on the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT)’s order quashing the appointments of 378 candidates in Odisha Civil Service (OCS) in August 2010 would continue till further instruction.

On June 10, a vacation bench of the high court had issued an interim stay order on the SAT ruling on a batch of petitions including one by 55 Odisha Finance Service (OFS) officers, who were among the 378 candidates.

On April 23, SAT quashed the appointment of the 378 candidates in Class I and Class II posts on the ground that Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC)’s advertisement was made for Class II and Specially Declared Gazetted Category posts and selection was made accordingly.

When the matter came up for hearing yesterday, the counsel for the petitioners pointed out to the court that neither the selection of the 378 candidates were challenged nor recommendation of their names for appointment was invalidated.

The division bench of Indrajit Mahanty and Justice B.N. Mohapatra, which was hearing the batch of petitions, adjourned the matter to August 4 for hearing along with a case records from the State Administrative Tribunal and clarified that the stay order on the tribunal order will continue.

Accordingly, the court called for the case records from the tribunal.

Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) had recommended the 378 candidates for appointment in Class II posts and specially declared gazetted posts after completing selection process in June 2010 on the basis of the OCS Examination 2006.

The state government had appointed them in Class I and Class II posts in August 2010. One Suravi Mohanty and eight others had challenged the legality of the appointment in the SAT.

According to case records, OPSC had undertaken the selection process after inviting applications in October 2006 for recruitment in the posts and services in Category-I (Class II posts of Odisha Administrative Service, Odisha Finance Service, Odisha Cooperative Service, Odisha Employment Service and Odisha Welfare Service) with Rs 6,500 basic pay scale.

Services in Category-II (specially declared gazetted sub-registrar and Odisha Settlement & Consolidation Service) with basic pay scale of Rs 5,500 were also included in the recruitment process.

After completion of the selection process, OPSC had recommended 378 candidates on June 11, 2010.

Subsequently, the general administration department issued in August 2010 a press note on “Appointment of candidates recruited in Odisha Civil Service - 2006”.

“On account of revision in cadres, pay class at the stage of initial recruitment in some services have undergone changes,” the press note said.

Consequently, the candidates selected for Class II were appointed this year in Class-I posts with Rs 15,600 basic pay and specially declared gazetted in Class-II posts with basic pay scale of Rs 6,500, press note said.