The Gauhati High Court has ordered the Assam government to reinstate 52 officers—from the 2013 and 2014 batches of civil, police, and allied services—who were previously dismissed over the APSC cash‑for‑jobs scam. The division bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Malasri Nandi observed there was no record the state followed constitutional procedure under Article 311(2)(b) to dispense with an inquiry, making the dismissals unsustainable.

The court has mandated reinstatement within 50 days, but without back wages, and permitted the government to withhold job assignments for 30 days and initiate departmental proceedings . However, officers who had not completed their probation won’t be reinstated . The original scam, exposed in 2016, resulted in the arrest of around 70 people, including the former APSC chair .

In response, Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has described the order as “painful” and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing that reinstating those who allegedly gained appointments through unfair means undermines merit-based recruitment .

sources