Rajasthan High Court stays hiring of 1,340 contract Ayush Officers

The Rajasthan High Court has put an interim stay on the selection process for the state's Ayush Officer contract recruitment 2025, which is filling 1,340 posts for Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani doctors, according to reports published on October 19, 2026. The court of Justice Anoop Dhand passed the order on a petition filed by Dr. Jyoti Jangid. The petition objects to the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board preparing a single common general merit list for candidates of all three medical systems. The next hearing is listed for November 19, the reports said.

Rajasthan advertised the posts jointly, so doctors trained in three quite different systems competed in one process. According to the reports, each system had its own examination paper, but the board drew up one combined merit list to rank all candidates. The petitioner argues that this is unfair because papers set for different subjects need not be equally hard. If the Ayurveda paper, for instance, was tougher than the Homoeopathy or Unani paper, Ayurveda graduates could score lower and lose out in a combined ranking even if they did well within their own field. The petition also says a combined list does not make clear how many posts belong to each system. It further alleges that an expert report opposing a combined merit list was submitted and ignored.

The question goes beyond one recruitment. Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani are grouped together under the Ayush banner for administration, but each has its own degree course (BAMS, BHMS or BUMS) and its own approach to treatment. When a state recruits for all three through one list, how the posts are divided and how candidates are compared decides which communities and patients get which kind of doctor. A clear split of posts by system also lets candidates know their real chances before they apply.

For the candidates, the stay means further delay. Job portals report that the board had already published results for this recruitment earlier in 2026, though the dates given differ between sites, and the reports of the court order do not say exactly which stage of selection is now on hold. Until the court rules, appointments for the 1,340 posts cannot move forward on the basis of the challenged list.

Short-term: The selection process for the 1,340 posts is on hold until at least the next hearing on November 19. Candidates who expected appointment letters will have to wait, and the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board will be able to put its side before the court.

Long-term: If the court finds the common merit list unfair, the board may have to prepare separate lists for Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani, or set out a fixed number of posts for each system. That could shape how Rajasthan, and possibly other states, recruit Ayush doctors in future.

Who is affected: BAMS, BHMS and BUMS graduates who applied for the posts; the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board and the state's Ayush department; and patients at government Ayush centres who are waiting for doctors to be appointed.

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