Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court yesterday refused to vacate the stay on the appointment of 362 candidates for the posts of Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ gazetted probationers from the 2011 batch of Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S.K. Mukherjee and Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar dismissed an Interlocutory Application (IA) filed by 81 selected candidates and the State government seeking directions to allow the government to make the appointments.

The legality of approval given by the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KAT) for the selections made by the KPSC was questioned in the PIL petition. The Bench said that it cannot consider these applications for vacating stay as it (the court) had on April 21 rejected the plea for vacating the stay made by the State government.

The bench, in its order, said it was surprising that the State government, whose application was dismissed by the KAT, joined the chorus in supporting the present application.

“The State government has curiously taken an antithetical stand. But it has not placed any material before this court to demonstrate that it has sound, valid and tenable reasons to retreat from its earlier stand and resolve to comply with the directions issued by the KAT.”

The 2011 batch candidates, including those who were selected, had challenged the KAT order which directed the government to go ahead with the appointments. The petitioners contended that despite large-scale irregularities in the selection process, the Tribunal ordered going ahead with the appointments.

The petitioners questioned the State government’s stand contending that it was the government which had conducted a CID investigation and found mass malpractice in the selection process. They said that tainted candidates were given appointments, but now the government is blindly following the KAT orders.