PATNA, July 16 -- The Patna High Court has sought affidavit from the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) without any delay on the "questionable legitimacy of the selection process". "The protracted delay in completion of the selection procedure, in the absence of the notified dates prescribed in the notification (by which date the selection procedure will end), can be said to have resulted into systematic fraud or irregularity and the entire selection process becomes illegitimate leading to cancellation of the process in entirety," said the bench of Justice Purnendu Singh. The order was uploaded on Tuesday. The judge observed that "in such circumstances and in view of the alleged irregularities and the process allegedly to be contrary to Article 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution of India, as well as, in want of fair, transparent process and accountability, the action of the Bihar State University Service Commission can be questioned. The bench was hearing a petition by Naresh Kumar Singh of Madhubani, who questioned the action and conduct of Commission in respect of the public announcement made by the advertisement for appointment on the post of Assistant Professor in the subjects notified. "The date of advertisement is September 21, 2020. Already five years have elapsed since the date of publication of the advertisement and in between; several writ petitions have been filed. The date was extended for accepting fresh applications. The petitioner being aggrieved of denying him equal access to similarly situated candidates has alleged credibility of the process of the selection. The statement of alleged mala fide has been made in several paragraphs of the writ petition," the order said. Maintaining that the Court is not concerned with the merit of the petitioner, who has denied that his candidature has been rejected on the alleged ground that he had submitted his EWS Certificate after the last date of submission of the application, as per the terms and conditions of the advertisement, the bench said that the long delay, however, does raise questions. BSUSC had advertised 4,638 vacancies of assistant professors in 52 subjects on September 23, 2020, just ahead of the announcement of state assembly elections. Till the HC stayed the appointment process in 2022 over quota ambiguity, 461 candidates had been appointed. The stay was lifted on April 18, 2024 and and more than 14 months later the process is still on. Bihar legislature had passed the Bihar state university service commission Act in 2017 to vest the power of recruitment back in the commission, which was earlier dissolved in 2007. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Bihar government had constituted the commission in February 2019....