The Punjab and Haryana High Court has raised serious doubts over the transparency of a Punjab government process to recruit 986 Multipurpose Health Workers (Female) after the State admitted that final consolidated merit list was not published after completion of the selection process.For verifying the State’s claim of transparency and fairness and to ensure that arbitrariness or illegality had not occurred in the selection process, Justice Sandeep Moudgil has directed Punjab Principal Secretary, Health Services (Family Welfare), to file an affidavit.Justice Moudgil made it clear that the affidavit would specify the date of publication of the final merit list; the date or dates on which appointment/allotment letters were issued to the selected candidates; and the total number of candidates who had joined the duties, along with their dates of joining.The directions came during the hearing of two connected petitions when the State filed an affidavit pursuant to its August 11 order.  Referring to the affidavit, Justice Moudgil asserted: “A glaring aspect has come to the notice of this Court, wherein it has been admitted on behalf of the State that the final consolidated merit list, upon completion of all stages of the recruitment process, was never published. Thus, admittedly, no final merit list was published in respect of the recruitment in question”.Justice Moudgil added the affidavit placed before the Bench, at the same time, stated that the recruitment process was undertaken and completed on the basis of the eligibility conditions prescribed in the advertisement and the merit secured by the candidates in the written examination, document verification, and preparation of a category-wise merit list.“However, the said merit list was never published, and the candidates were not made aware of their respective positions in the merit list after the result had been finally consolidated,” Justice Moudgil observed.Taking note of the State’s stand that the final list of candidates recruited against the 986 posts had been published on the official website, Justice Moudgil added: “When a query was put by this Court regarding the date on which such final merit list was published on the website of the respondent-department, Rajiv Verma, Additional Advocate-General, Punjab, seeks time to obtain instructions and apprise the Court accordingly”.Justice Moudgil added the court had serious doubts regarding the publication of such final merit list, “particularly at a stage where this Court had directed the filing of an affidavit on the said aspect vide its order dated August 11”.The Bench added: “It was relevant to ascertain whether, prior to the publication of the said final merit list, if at all, the recruitment process stood concluded by issuance of appointment letters and whether majority of the candidates, who had been issued such appointment letters, had already joined their respective duties”.Justice Moudgil, on the previous date of hearing, had taken note of the contention regarding candidates belonging to reserved categories. The petitioners contended that certain reserved-category candidates had secured marks higher than the cut-off prescribed for the general category and ought to have been considered against general-category posts.Justice Moudgil further recorded the petitioner’s contention that “the entire selection process has been undertaken de hors the legitimate claim of such candidates belonging to the reserved categories” who ought to have been considered against general-category posts if they had secured marks higher than the prescribed general-category cut-off.