Orissa HC issues stay order on recruitment of sepoys

CUTTACK: The process of appointment of 1,360 sepoys/constables across 16 different battalions on the basis of advertisement issued by the State Selection Board (Odisha Police) on August 29, 2024, has hit fresh legal hurdle with the Orissa High Court imposing restriction on it.

The court on Thursday issued the interim stay order on an appeal filed by the state government challenging the order passed by a single judge for one-time six-year relaxation of the upper age limit for candidates seeking to apply for the posts. The single judge issued the order on December 5, 2024, after a batch of petitions by candidates who had crossed the 23 years upper age limit challenged the advertisement.

When the state government’s appeal was taken up for a preliminary hearing on Thursday, advocate general Pitambar Acharya submitted that the recruitment contemplated by the advertisement is for entry into the uniformed force. It is not and cannot be called a civil service. Hence, the single judge erred in law to give direction for revision of the advertisement by issuance of corrigendum, Acharya argued.