Shimla, June 17 -- In a significant setback to the Himachal Pradesh government, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has ordered an immediate halt to the recruitment of 900 Assistant Staff Nurses (ASNs), holding that the ongoing selection process appears to be outside the framework of the existing statutory recruitment rules.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin C Negi directed the state government not to issue any further appointment letters and restrained selected candidates from joining until further orders.

The directions came during the hearing of a batch of petitions concerning recruitment policies and the growing reliance on outsourced employees in various government departments.

The court took s...