IAS promotions: UPSC unlikely to consider HCS officers facing trial

Rules stipulate that HCS officers against whom criminal proceedings are pending cannot be considered for promotion to the IAS unless exonerated by the court

- Hitender Rao

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is unlikely to give its nod to appoint eight Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers, currently facing trial in a corruption case, to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) by way of promotion in view of the restrictions imposed by central rules and Supreme Court orders.

The state government is pushing for their appointment to the IAS even as the UPSC had in the past expressed reservations.

‘A meeting of the selection committee headed by a UPSC functionary to consider the names of 48 HCS officers, including the eight officers facing trial, for appointment to 27 posts of IAS by promotion, is scheduled for July 14 in New Delhi.

The state anti-corruption bureau had on July 4, 2023, presented a chargesheet in the court of Hisar sessions judge, Dinesh Kumar Mittal, arraigning eight HCS officers of 2002 batch as accused. They are Veena Hooda, Surender Singh-I, Jagdeep Dhanda, Sarita Malik, Kamlesh Bhadoo, Kuldhir Singh, Vatsal Vashisht and Jag Niwas. They were arraigned in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities and malpractices by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in the recruitment process of 2001 HCS and Allied Services (executive branch) examination.

A total of 29 persons including six former HPSC functionaries, four allied services officers and nine paper checkers were also arraigned in the chargesheet.