In a decisive ruling that underscores the sanctity of established recruitment rules, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed review petitions filed by the Haryana government and serving Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers regarding the appointment of elite sportspersons. The Division Bench, led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry, not only rejected the pleas but also imposed a cost of ₹25,000 each on the petitioners for filing what the court termed as “vexatious” petitions that consumed valuable judicial time.
The case centers on the appointment of two distinguished Arjuna Award-winning shooters, Ankur Mittal and Abhishek Verma, to the Haryana Civil Service (HCS) and Haryana Police Service (HPS). The review petitions sought to challenge the court’s earlier order dated July 17, 2025, which had dismissed appeals by the state and upheld the sportspersons’ right to appointment. The serving HCS officers had contended that inducting these sportspersons would disrupt the existing service structure and negatively impact their seniority.
Dismissing these arguments, the Bench observed that all grounds raised in the review had already been thoroughly examined in the previous appeals. Chief Justice Nagu reiterated the settled legal principle that “once the game has begun, the rules of the game cannot be changed midway.” The court found no palpable error in its earlier judgment and noted that the state cannot retrospectively alter rules to disadvantage candidates who had applied under a valid policy.
The legal battle traces back to April 2022, when the High Court first directed the Haryana government to offer appointments to Mittal and Verma commensurate with their international achievements. Ankur Mittal, a world-ranked double trap shooter and Bhim Awardee, and Abhishek Verma, an Arjuna awardee in shooting, had been denied appointments despite their eligibility under the applicable sports policy. With this dismissal, the court has firmly paved the way for their induction into the state civil services.
