Shimla, Aug 18– The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Manoj Sharma, who sought appointment to the post of Shastri under Post Code-813 by claiming one additional mark for his Bharat Scouts & Guides certificate.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma upheld the order of a Single Judge that had earlier rejected Sharma’s writ petition.
The Court ruled that mere participation in a one-day peace rally in 2015 did not qualify for marks under the uniform criteria laid down by the recruiting agency.
Sharma argued that as per the 2020 advertisement, he was entitled to one mark, which would have lifted his score to 62.26—above the cut-off for candidates appointed from the waitlist.
However, the Bench observed that only specific Scout & Guide certificates—such as Dwitya Sopan, Tritya Sopan, Rajya Puraskar, Rashtrapati Puraskar, and five other recognized badges—were valid for evaluation.
The Court also cited the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench ruling in Tej Prakash Pathak vs Rajasthan High Court (2025) to hold that recruitment rules cannot be arbitrarily altered midstream but clarified that in Sharma’s case, there was only a uniform clarification applied to all candidates.
Finding no illegality or discrimination, the Bench dismissed the appeal, holding that the recruitment process was transparent and non-arbitrary.