Chandigarh, June 20 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed the recruitment advertisement for five posts of Punjab Civil Services (executive branch) notified by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) on June 5. The recruitment was to be done from among registrars (members of group A and group B services) working in various government departments. The decision by the bench of justice HS Brar came on a petition by three employees who alleged that the cut-off date was "tailor-made" to favour certain candidates and exclude deserving ones. "The act and conduct of the respondents is contrary to the principle of meritocracy and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. While the advertisement was put out on June 5, the cut-off date for determining eligibility was fixed as November 1, 2025," the plea detailed. Referring to Rule 6 (4) of the Punjab Civil Services Rules (Executive Branch), their counsel, BS Mittal, contended that fixing the cut-off date seven months prior to the advertisement's issuance was contrary to these rules and arbitrary. In response, the government counsel submitted that the cut-off date had been fixed in line with Rule 6 (4) (b), which provided that eligible candidates had to be under the age of 54 on the first day of November. However, Mittal pointed out that Rule 6 (4) (b) was only applicable to candidates who had acquired the age of 54 on November 1 and had no relation with Rule 6 (4) (a), which required eight years of continuous service under the government. Adjourning the matter for August 24, the court sought the government's response on the plea. "In the meantime, operation of the impugned advertisement shall remain stayed," the court ordered....