- Punjab-Haryana High Court stays appointment process for 454 Pharmacy Officer posts till Sept 17
- Punjab Police busted an interstate cheating racket using hidden pen cameras in exam on July 19
- Government claims incident was high-tech cheating, not a conventional paper leak
The Punjab government has suffered a fresh setback over allegations of a paper leak in the recruitment examination for 454 Pharmacy Officer posts.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the appointment process for the posts advertised by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, keeping the appointments on hold until the next hearing on September 17.
The court's order comes amid a political storm over the July 19 examination, after Punjab Police claimed to have busted an interstate cheating racket involving candidates who allegedly used a hidden pen camera to photograph the question paper and transmit it outside the examination centre to obtain answers.
The government has maintained that the incident involved high-tech cheating rather than a conventional paper leak.
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That distinction has now become a major political flashpoint.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal seized on the High Court order to target Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Education Minister Harjot Bains, alleging that the government had attempted to downplay the alleged paper leak as a "minor cheating case". He demanded accountability and questioned whether the government would "roll some heads".
BJP leader Parminder Singh Brar also attacked the Mann government, saying the High Court's intervention underscored the seriousness of the issue and demanding the resignation of Health Minister Balbir Singh.
AAP, however, has pushed back against the political narrative. Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj argued that a paper leak and cheating during an examination are two different things. He reiterated the Punjab government's position that candidates allegedly carried electronic devices into the examination centre, photographed the question paper and transmitted the images outside to obtain answers.
For now, the appointment process for 454 Pharmacy Officer posts remains on hold.
The pharmacy examination controversy could become another example cited by the Opposition in its broader attack on the AAP government over alleged paper leaks, recruitment irregularities and employment opportunities for Punjab's youth.
With the 2027 Assembly election approaching, that political fallout could prove consequential for the Mann government.
