The Supreme Court Thursday struck down a Karnataka law validating the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC)’s 2011 gazetted probationers’ recruitment, which courts had earlier cancelled over allegations of corruption and nepotism.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran also ordered the termination of appointments made under the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022, which had overturned the earlier cancellation of the KPSC recruitment and paved the way for the selected candidates to join service.

“When the winds of politics change direction, it is the common man who gets caught in the storm,” the bench said.

The bench directed the Karnataka Government to order fresh recruitment for the vacant Group A and Group B posts, granting one-time age relaxation to candidates from the 2011 recruitment, including those whose appointments were made under the invalidated law.

“The passage of a decade and a half from the…