Questioning the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order quashing a chargesheet over forgery allegations in Haryana Civil Service recruitment, the Supreme Court has asked the Investigating Officer of the case to appear before it on May 26 “along with the relevant material available with him”.”Why has the high court not decided these matters which have been pending for the last 15 years?” a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta asked as it wondered why the entire examination was not cancelled by the state government, or a relevant order was passed by the high court when the Additional Advocate General’s affidavit contained specific findings of manipulations.Requesting the Haryana Advocate General to assist it, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on May 26.”It will take us three minutes to reverse this order. This order is absurd. Non-naming of an accused in a fraud FIR…copies have not been examined…the high court is holding on to the copies, how will the investigation be completed?” asked the Bench which had on March 25 stayed the high court’s order quashing the charge-sheet against eight Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers of 2001 batch, allegedly selected on the basis of favouritism and malpractices.On February 4, the high court 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 (who had originally challenged the recruitment before the high court), the top court on March 25 issued notices to the HCS officers and the Haryana Government asking them to file their replies.Noting that 18 years have been taken by the high court, the top court on May 20 said the investigation can’t be quashed for that reason. “It could have been deferred, or whatever, but not quashed… Once it is quashed, under what provision could the IO carry on the probe again?” it wondered.”We can call for the copies here also… we can see it in black and white and if something comes to our knowledge we will not be shy of passing apt orders. If we call everything here and we examine and find that there is something seriously wrong in the entire selection process… the manipulations, the overwriting, the cuttings, double handwritings, different handwritings in one answer sheet, we will cancel the entire selection,” it said.Noting that the selections had not been touched at all, the Bench told the respondents, “But if we ultimately find that there is total manipulation and forgery, we will set aside everything.”As senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar submitted on behalf of the respondents that the high court itself examined the answer sheets to test the veracity of the Additional Advocate General’s affidavit, the Bench shot back, “Was the high court supposed to deal with the investigation when IO was seized of the matter? Is this the job of the high court to examine whether there is a cutting in the copy? The high court virtually took over the investigation. This is absolutely not in the domain of the high court.”The March 25 stay order had come after senior counsel R Basanth and advocate Deepkaran Dalal pointed out on behalf of the petitioner that the officers concerned were charge-sheeted 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.