IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: February 20, 2026 JITENDER KUMAR ...Petitioner Versus HARYANA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND OTHERS ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TRIBHUVAN DAHIYA Present: Mr. Vipin Pal Yadav, Advocate and Mr. Jaskaran Singh Sohal, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Kanwal Goyal, Advocate with Ms. Sheena Dahiya, Advocate and Ms. Komal Klana, Advocate for the respondents-HPSC.

TRIBHUVAN DAHIYA, J. (ORAL)

The petition has been filed inter alia seeking a writ of certiorari quashing the order dated 29.01.2026, Annexure P-12, whereby the respondent/Haryana Public Service Commission has rejected the petitioner’s candidature for the post of Assistant Professor (College Cadre) for the subject of Geography against advertisement 51/2024, on the ground that he did not have the status of Ex-Serviceman on or before the closing date for submission of applications/15.03.2025.

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are, the petitioner applied for the post in question as a General/unreserved category candidate with applicable sub-category of Ex-Servicemen (ESM). The application was submitted on the basis of No Objection Certificate (NOC)