Chandigarh, March 2 -- Allowing a bunch of petitions challenging the recruitment process for the posts of scientist and assistant environmental engineer in the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the chief secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and the union territory of Chandigarh to formulate clear and comprehensive guidelines regarding grant of relaxation in selection criteria for persons with disabilities (PwBD). The court observed that relaxation in selection criteria for persons with disabilities is not a concession but a constitutional obligation aimed at achieving substantive equality in furtherance of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution, read with the mandate of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPWD Act). The bench directed that the respective chief secretaries must ensure that relaxed norms in selection criteria are implemented in all future recruitment processes conducted within their jurisdictions. They have also been asked to file compliance reports by way of affidavits of responsible officers within three months from receipt of the certified copy of the order. While granting relief to the present petitioner, Justice Harpreet Singh Brar directed the chief secretary of Haryana to constitute a committee within two weeks of receiving the certified copy of the order to determine the extent of relaxation in selection criteria for candidates with disabilities, in light of the DoPT notifications dated August 15, 2018, and May 17, 2022, as well as relevant Supreme Court judgments. The committee has been directed to finalise the relaxed norms within four weeks of its constitution and submit its recommendations to the chief secretary, who shall forward the report to the respondent-commission within two weeks. Upon receiving the recommendations, the commission must reconsider the cases of the petitioners in light of the relaxed norms. If they qualify under the revised criteria, they are to be recommended for appointment to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board within two weeks of receiving the committee's report. The high court was hearing multiple petitions filed last year against the Haryana Public Service Commission and others. The court had reserved its order on January 29 and pronounced the judgment on February 27. In one petition filed by Sohan Singh, the petitioner sought quashing of an advertisement dated May 21, 2025, for the post of Scientist-B (Group B) in HSPCB, as no posts were reserved for the physically handicapped category. He also challenged a corrigendum dated September 25, 2025, which increased the number of posts from five to eighteen but again failed to earmark any vacancy for PwBD candidates. The petitioner further sought directions to accept his candidature under the appropriate category, grant relaxation in accordance with applicable government instructions, and permit him to participate in the subject knowledge test and subsequent stages of the selection process. Similar grievances were raised in the connected petitions, wherein comparable directions were also sought. The Haryana Public Service Commission submitted that in the absence of statutory rules prescribing the mode and manner of selection, it was competent to frame its own selection scheme. In one case, the commission admitted that non-reservation of posts for persons with disabilities was due to an inadvertent error. The bench, however, noted that no relaxation whatsoever had been provided at any stage of the selection process to persons with disabilities. The grievance, it said, was not about the adequacy of relaxation but about the complete denial of relaxation - a position the court held to be ex facie contrary to constitutional guarantees and the mandate of the RPWD Act. A copy of the order has been directed to be supplied to the state counsels for Haryana and Punjab as well as the senior standing counsel for the Union Territory of Chandigarh for information and compliance....