Chandigarh, Aug. 13 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed the appointment process for the recruitment of 454 posts of pharmacists in Punjab. The posts of pharmacists (pharmacy officers) were advertised by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot on June 11, 2026. The court acted on a petition by Keshav Kamboj and others demanding that the written examination held on July 19 be cancelled along with consequential steps. It was alleged that the entire exercise of the examination was vitiated due to an alleged organised hi-tech interstate racket involving mass-scale cheating. This was proved by the details of a criminal case registered on July 19 regarding the alleged cheating, the court was told. During the hearing, the respondents had submitted that the process of appointments had stalled due to pendency of the petition before the HC and the entire exercise had come to a standstill. The state as well as the BFUHS counsels had sought time to file their replies. The court, while posting the matter for further hearing on September 17, asked the respondents to file their response one week in advance from the next date of hearing and said that "...in the meantime the process of appointments shall remain stayed till the next date of hearing."...