Jaipur Feb 22 PTI Calling upon the youth to focus on preparations instead of falling prey to those who intend to delay recruitments in Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said his government is committed to completing recruitment processes on time regardless of political gains and lossesThe state governments intention is to conduct every competitive examination declare results and give appointments on time he saidDo not fall prey to politicians coaching institutes or other persons who are delaying recruitment by getting the examinations delayed You prepare with full concentration The state government is determined to give you maximum opportunities Gehlot said in a statementThe statement came hours after a single-judge bench of the Rajasthan High Court ordered the Rajasthan Public Service Commission RPSC to set aside the results of the RAS-2021 prelims examination and declare the results afresh after getting some disputed questions re-examined by an expert committeeThe preliminary examination was held on October 27 last year and its result was announced on November 19The decision of the court is bound to affect the schedule of the RAS Mains examination which is to be held on February 25 and 26 Some candidates have been demanding postponement of the mains exams saying they did not get enough time to prepare as per the revised syllabusHowever Gehlot on Monday ruled out any possibility of deferring the RAS Mains examination stating such a move will put financial and mental pressure on the candidates He said candidates have been given enough time to prepareOur intention is to conduct every competitive examination on time and issue its results and give appointments to the youth on time It also sends a message to the youth that regardless of political gains and losses in the coming times all competitive examinations would be conducted in the interest of youth he saidThe chief minister said that in the last 10 years there have often been delays in competitive examinations sometimes due to irregularities and on other occasions due to petitions in the high courtThis causes frustration among the youth who have been preparing for years The situation of unemployment in the state and the country is serious he saidHe said that keeping in view their interests the government has given jobs to the youth by withdrawing all the Special Leave Petitions SLPs filed by the previous government in the Supreme CourtWe have tried to make such a system so that all competitive exams are held on time For this the suggestions of experts were also taken by forming a committee and amendments were made to many rules which impede the recruitment in the courts he saidGehlot said that despite the Covid situation the state government has issued a calendar of recruitment examinations and has tried to adopt a UPSC-like pattern so that the youth are fully aware of the upcoming competitive examinations PTI SDA IJT

Ahmedabad Feb 18 PTI Lawyers of 49 convicts 38 of them sentenced to death and others to life-long imprisonment in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case on Friday said they will approach the Gujarat High Court against a special courts verdict pronouncing them guiltyAccording to defence lawyers the special court should not have relied solely on circumstantial evidence and statements of some convicts while giving its judgementThe verdict was mainly based on circumstantial evidence four statements given by the accused under section 164 of the CrPC and the statement of an approver I believe that the court should have discarded such evidencesBut since the verdict has come it is natural that those who were convicted will approach the High Court against the verdict said HM Sheikh one of the defence lawyersThe judgement runs into over 7000 pages and is yet to be made available to us We will plan the future course of action after studying the judgement in the coming days he saidKhalid Shaikh another defence lawyer said the special court should have shown leniency as per principles laid down by the Supreme CourtWe expected the court to show some leniency and award less harsher punishment We will first study the verdict before taking a final decision on filing an appeal against it said Khalid ShaikhEarlier in the day the special court sentenced to death 38 members of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen IM in the case related to the serial blasts which had claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injuredThe court also sentenced 11 other convicts to life imprisonment till deathThe court had convicted 49 persons and acquitted 28 others in the case on February 8 The pronouncement of the quantum of punishment by judge A R Patel came nearly 14 years after the bombingsThis is for the first time that so many convicts have been handed down death sentence by any court at one goIn January 1998 a TADA court in Tamil Nadu sentenced to death all the 26 convicts in the case of assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 PTI PJT RSY RSY