A division bench, comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice N G Nandi, while hearing the Government's appeal against the single judge bench earlier order directing the Government to call all the leftover candidates of 101st batch for training, said the status quo ante should be maintained till the next date of hearing, July 12.

Justice Mukul Mudgal in his order on May 26 had directed the Additional Director General of Recruitment (ADGR) to issue call letters to all the candidates leftover from among 338 selected by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Justice Mudgal had directed the successful candidates to intimate their option to ADGR for joining training within a stipulated time. But theGovernment had challenged the order by way of an appeal before the division bench.

The division bench pulled the Government for reducing the vacancies by 105 saying, ``By no stretch of imagination, over 100 vacancies will vanish.''

UPSC, which had advertised 365 vacancies for 101st batch, had selected 338 candidates and published their list after it found them medically fit for joining the course.

ADGR sent only 232 candidates to NDA from this batch and accommodated 141 candidates leftover from 100th batch last year, after the Defence Ministry cleared their names, saying they could not be accommodated earlier because of policy change.