THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT has directed that the appointment of 454 pharmacists advertised by state‑run Baba Farid University of Health Sciences will remain stayed till September 17, the next date for hearing the petition challenging the recruitment process.

Passing the order, Justice Sandeep Moudgil acted on a petition filed by Keshav Kamboj and others, who sought cancellation of the written examination conducted for recruitment over allegations that an organised inter‑state cheating racket vitiated it.

During the hearing, counsel pleaded that the appointment had been stalled because of the pendency of the writ petition. The petition sought the quashing of the written examination held on July 19 for recruitment of pharmacists (Group C) under the Punjab Department of Health and Family Welfare, relating to an advertisement of June 11.

The petitioners also prayed for quashing all consequential steps taken or proposed to be taken on its basis, including evaluation of answer sheets and preparation or declaration of the result. They argued that the examination had been vitiated in its entirety by the organised, hi‑tech, inter‑state cheating racket, as recorded in the press release dated July 19 and FIR dated July 20, “in complete negation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.”

Meanwhile, state Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains told the Assembly on August 3 that a Haryana‑based cheating syndicate used modified mobile phones, hidden wireless earpieces and other advanced gadgets to facilitate cheating during the Baba Farid University pharmacy examination.

Participating in the discussion on the censure motion in the House over repeated paper leaks across the country and atrocities against protesting students, Bains said Punjab had emerged as India’s number one state in school education. On how the racket operated in the university, he said this was not a paper leak but a technology‑driven cheating operation busted by Punjab Police. He alleged that for years the Haryana government looked away while the syndicate destroyed the future of thousands of students.