Constitutional Law

The Rajasthan High Court closed a batch of public interest litigations on prison conditions, running since 2008, holding that its directions had produced substantial reforms but that an undertrial’s alleged murder in the High Security Jail, Ajmer showed the need for perpetual vigilance (paras 11-12). It constituted a State-Level Monitoring Committee headed by the District Judges and gave directions, mostly time-bound, on CCTV cameras, phone searches, guards, women’s prisons and a custodial death relief scheme (paras 13-14).

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur disposed of AU Small Finance Bank's writ petition with a direction to the Superintendent of Police, Sri Ganganagar and the SHO, Kesrisingpur to act immediately, in accordance with law, to restore possession of a mortgaged property to the bank (paras 6, 8). The bank said it had taken possession under the SARFAESI Act with police aid on 5 May 2026 and that the borrowers later broke in (paras 2-3). Action is expected within fifteen days of receipt of a certified copy (para 7).

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur has directed that a candidate in the Class-IV Employee Direct Recruitment-2024, who mentioned her gender as ‘Third Gender’ instead of ‘Female’ in her form by mistake, be considered as ‘Female’ (paras 2, 4). The Staff Selection Board said the correction came too late, but could not dispute that she is a female candidate (para 3). The Court allowed her writ petition on the peculiar facts and made clear that the order “shall not be treated as a precedent in any other case” (para 4).

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur directed the Jodhpur power distribution company to pay a contractor within six weeks for an underground 11 KV line that grew from about 1 km to about 3 km after the Air Force objected to the original route (paras 2, 6). The respondents could not dispute that the Supreme Court's M/s Surya Constructions decision covered the claim (para 4). As the work was completed in 2023 and left unpaid for nearly three years, the amount carries 6% annual interest (para 7).

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur allowed two connected writ petitions by 19 Nursing Officers and ANMs seeking to have their earlier contractual service counted, directing the State to compute their service from the initial temporary, ad hoc or urgent appointment and grant continuity of service for all purposes after verifying each petitioner's documents and eligibility (paras 1, 4-5). Applying the Division Bench ratio in Dr. Paritosh Ujjwal, it rejected the State's plea that recruitment through drop boxes, without a Selection Committee, set them apart (paras 3-4).

The Rajasthan High Court, at Jodhpur, has held that a widow's request to have her son considered in her place for compassionate appointment cannot be rejected merely on the ground of delay and laches when the Department never decided her own application (para 6). Her 2021 application under the Rules of 1996 was still pending on the day of the order (para 5). Any delay was attributable to the Department, and the Rules provide no automatic rejection (para 6). The authorities must act within two months (para 7).