The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order quashing the chargesheet against eight Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers of 2001 batch allegedly selected on the basis of favouritism and malpractices.The high court had on February 4 ruled that the HCS officers were neither named in the FIR nor investigated, and their names were incorporated after 18 years without any probe and accordingly, it had quashed the chargesheet dated June 30, 2023, against them.However, acting on a special leave petition filed by Congress leader Karan Dalal, a Bench of Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notices to the HCS officers and the Haryana Government asking them to file their replies in four weeks.“In the meantime, the effect and operation of the impugned order(s) passed by the high court shall remain stayed,” the top court ordered.The stay order came after senior counsel R Basanth and advocate Deepkaran Dalal pointed out that the officers concerned were chargesheeted following a detailed investigation carried out by the state vigilance bureau.The petitioner contended that the high court erred in holding that FIR No. 20 dated October 18, 2005 registered at Police Station State Vigilance Bureau, Hisar, did not pertain to the selection of these HCS officers.Terming the high court’s finding as “manifestly erroneous and contrary to the record”, the SLP submitted that a perusal of the FIR No. 20 revealed that various selection(s) undertaken by the then Chairman Haryana Public Service Commission from 2001 to 2004, including the HCS Executive and Allied Services Examination, 2001 were the subject matter of investigation, whereby ineligible persons were appointed for monetary and other consideration.The eight HCS officers were among 64 candidates selected on September 4, 2002, for various posts in the Haryana Civil Services and Allied Services conducted by the Haryana Public Service Commission. They joined service in 2002 and continued to serve, earning selection grades.But before the selections, a petition was filed on July 31, 2002, by then MLA Karan Dalal, challenging the entire selection on allegations of nepotism and irregularities.A Division Bench of the high court on December 16, 2010, noted that the allegations “deserve to be inquired into by a person/body not belonging to the region.”Later, the Supreme Court said “it would be in the interest of the parties that the writ petition be finally disposed of by the High Court at the earliest….”In July 2022, their names were included by the state government in a panel sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for consideration for nomination to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the select list of 2020-21. The meeting of the UPSC was, however, postponed, and they were yet to be considered.