An initiated recruitment process cannot be arbitrarily discontinued and must be completed.

The State issued Advertisement No. 03/2024 on 24 July 2024 for recruitment to Anaesthesiologist Specialist posts. Interviews were conducted, and a select list published on 26 August 2025 was set aside on 21 May 2026; a revised merit list and supplementary list were published on 19 June 2026.

The petitioners sought completion of the appointment process under that recruitment. They apprehended that a subsequent order dated 14 August 2026, providing for recruitment through M.P. Online and a departmental selection committee instead of recruitment through the M.P. Public Service Commission, would displace the ongoing process.

The respondents did not provide clear instructions, and the petitioners produced no material demonstrating that their recruitment process had actually been stopped.

1. Whether the respondents could discontinue or bypass the recruitment process initiated under Advertisement No. 03/2024 after publication of the revised merit list.

2. Whether the petitioners had established that the recruitment process had been stopped, warranting the reliefs sought.

The Court referred to Rule 6(4) of the Madhya Pradesh Public Health and Family Welfare (Gazetted) Services Recruitment Rules, 2022, in describing the existing recruitment route through the M.P. Public Service Commission and the subsequent change in procedure.

It applied the principle that a recruitment process initiated by the authorities should not be arbitrarily discontinued.

The revised merit list had been published, but the Court found no record evidence that the respondents had stopped the appointment process.

Although the 14 August 2026 order gave the petitioners a reasonable basis for concern, apprehension alone did not establish that their recruitment had been terminated or displaced. The Court therefore directed completion of the process already initiated under the 24 July 2024 advertisement rather than granting the broader reliefs as framed.

within three months from communication of the order.