The Jharkhand High Court has quashed the state government’s notification cancelling the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examinations, protecting the positions of more than 2,000 candidates who had been declared successful. The court, however, allowed the CID investigation into alleged question-paper leaks and other irregularities to continue.
Justice Deepak Roshan passed the order on Friday while hearing petitions filed by successful candidates challenging the cancellation of the examinations and the termination of their services. The court observed that the government’s decision to cancel the examinations was unfair and unjust.
The Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department had issued the cancellation notification on August 18. The decision affected candidates selected through 23 competitive examinations conducted by the JSSC and resulted in more than 2,000 successful candidates being removed from service. Several of those candidates had already entered government employment before the cancellation decision.
The examinations had been cancelled after large protests by aspirants over alleged question-paper leaks and other irregularities. The state government, represented by Advocate General Rohitashya Roy, told the court that there was evidence of large-scale malpractice and that the allegations had been substantiated by a CID probe. Roy argued that cancelling the examinations was the only available way for the government to address the alleged irregularities.
The petitioners, including Akash Gaurav, Niranjan Khess and others, challenged the legality of the government’s action. They argued that they had been removed from service without being issued show-cause notices and that the examinations could not be cancelled through a government notification alone. Their case was represented by advocates including Indrajit Sinha and Amritansh Vats.
The court’s order restores the immediate legal position of the successful candidates affected by the cancellation notification. It also separates the question of their employment from the investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the examination process. The court said that the CID investigation would continue to its logical conclusion and that appropriate action could be taken on the basis of its final findings.
The High Court had earlier stayed the operation of the August 18 notification during proceedings. Friday’s order disposes of the petitions filed by the successful candidates while leaving the investigation and any action arising from its final findings open.
