The Supreme Court has ordered the parties to maintain status quo in the recruitment process for 46 Excise constable posts in Nagaland while issuing notice on a Special Leave Petition (Civil) challenging a judgment of the Gauhati High Court’s Kohima Bench that had allowed the State government to continue with the recruitment.
A Bench comprising Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Sheel Nagu passed the order on July 7 while hearing SLP (Civil) No. 22477 of 2026, filed by T. Akon Phom and other petitioners against the State of Nagaland and others.
After issuing notice to the respondents, the apex court directed that the status quo, as it existed on July 7, 2026, should be maintained in all respects until the next hearing. The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 31.
The petition challenges the June 23, 2026 judgment of the Gauhati High Court’s Kohima Bench in Writ Appeal No. 39 of 2025.
In that judgment, a Division Bench comprising Justice Nelson Sailo and Justice Pranjal Das upheld the Excise Department’s decision to include a written examination in the recruitment process for the 46 Excise constable posts.
The High Court had allowed the State government’s appeal and set aside an October 2025 order of a single judge that had quashed the written examination, thereby permitting the recruitment process to proceed.
The dispute arose after a group of aspiring candidates alleged procedural irregularities in the recruitment conducted by the Departmental Recruitment Board of the Excise Department.
In representations submitted to the Commissioner of Excise and Prohibition and shared with the media, the candidates claimed that the recruitment process was not being conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Nagaland Excise Service (Revised) Rules, 1999. They sought corrective measures, alleging that the recruitment procedure deviated from the prescribed rules.
