Himachal Police Constable Recruitment: High Court rejects eligibility cutoff date for ex-servicemen

July 30, 2025

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has declared the cutoff date fixed for ex-servicemen in the police constable recruitment as illegal and has cancelled it. The date of discharge (13 December 2022 to 13 December 2024), which was fixed by the court to determine the eligibility of ex-servicemen in the notification of the Sainik Welfare Department dated 21 February 2025, has been cancelled by the court.

A single bench of Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua has directed to fix a new valid cut-off date be fixed for release from service within three weeks. The court has also clarified that till this process is completed, the result of the ex-servicemen category will not be declared. The next hearing of this case will be on August 11.

Instructions given to fix a new valid cut-off date for release from service in three weeks

The petitioners argued that the date fixed in the notification of February 21 is not mentioned in any law, rule, or manua,l and it appears to be arbitrary. In the earlier notification, ex-servicemen who retired between January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2024 were considered eligible, but this was changed in the subsequent notification, due to which many eligible candidates became ineligible.

The state government had started the recruitment process for a total of 1226 constable posts, out of which 123 posts were reserved for ex-servicemen. The High Court clarified that this change was not made under proper procedure, and this has violated the rights of the candidates.