Jharkhand HC stays cancellation of JPSC, Food Safety Officer recruitment exams

The ruling came after petitions claimed the cancellations were unjust and arbitrary, amidst ongoing protests over alleged recruitment irregularities.

The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday stayed the notifications cancelling the 11th to 13th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Combined Civil Services Examination and the Food Safety Officer recruitment examination, along with related appointments.

JPSC-JSSC aspirants wave the national flag as they celebrate after the Jharkhand government accepted their demands recently. (ANI)

The interim order passed by Justice Deepak Roushan brought relief to around 400 successful candidates — 342 under JPSC and 54 under the Food Safety Officer recruitment — whose career prospects were left hanging after the state government’s sudden decision to scrap the recruitment processes.

The high court passed the interim order while hearing a batch of four writ petitions challenging the state’s notifications. The petitions were filed by aggrieved candidates — Deepmala, Sonam Kumari, Saurabh Singh and Ashutosh Kumar — who argued that the government’s blanket cancellation was arbitrary, unjust and violated the well-established principles of natural justice.

“The Honorable Court stayed the operations of the state government’s notifications cancelling the JPSC 11th to 13th Civil Services and Food Safety Officer recruitment exams,” advocate Sinha submitted.

On Tuesday, the state government issued eight notifications cancelling 22 recruitment examinations. TDPL, a private firm under the scanner of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC), was involved in these examinations.

The notification cancelling the JPSC 11th to 13th Civil Services and Food Safety Officer examinations also included the cancellation of the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) examination.

When asked about the fate of the other notifications, Sinha clarified that they had not been stayed and said a hearing on them was expected on Friday.

Besides staying the cancellation order, the court directed all parties, including the state government, to file affidavits and listed the matter for hearing on September 15, counsel Amritansh Vats said.

Senior additional advocate general Achyut Keshav, who appeared for the state, said, “The High Court has stayed the cancellation notifications for the time being. A detailed order copy outlining the court’s complete observations and specific directions will be uploaded on the official website by late tonight.”

The legal battle stems from the state government’s late-night notifications on Tuesday annulling several competitive examinations following allegations of paper leaks and institutional irregularities involving a blacklisted third-party examination management agency.

The notifications were issued following sustained protests by students demanding proper action over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the JPSC and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).

Meanwhile, the students who on Wednesday had put their protest on hold for two months accused the state government of “deceiving” job aspirants after the high court’s stay order. They alleged that the government failed to effectively defend its decision before the high court.

“Neither the advocate general nor any senior advocate appeared in the high court on Thursday to defend the government’s stand of cancelling the recruitment exams. The lawyers who were present did not utter a single word in defence. This clearly shows that this was a trap — a trap to end the protest,” student leader Kunal Pratap Singh alleged. Another students’ representative Ravindra Paswan said: “The government has deceived thousands of job aspirants.”