Jharkhand HC stays order cancelling 11th-13th JPSC exams, appointments

The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday, 20 August stayed the state government’s order cancelling the 11th to 13th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Civil Services examinations and the appointments arising from them.

The court’s order has provided significant relief to candidates who had cleared the examinations and whose government jobs were put at risk following the state government’s decision.

Around 342 successful candidates from the 11th to 13th JPSC Civil Services examinations had approached the high court challenging the government’s decision. Among the petitioners were selected candidates Sonam Kumari and Ashutosh Kumar.

The petitioners argued that the government had not presented any concrete facts or evidence before cancelling the entire examination and the appointments resulting from it. They contended that even if irregularities had taken place at some stage of the examination process, an investigation should be conducted on the basis of the individual roles of those involved rather than punishing all successful candidates collectively.

The state government had taken the decision to cancel several recruitment examinations following nearly 25 days of student protests over alleged irregularities in government recruitment examinations. The protests began in Ranchi on 25 July, with protesters demanding action over alleged irregularities in examinations conducted by the JPSC and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).

Over the past two weeks, chief minister Hemant Soren had announced the cancellation of the 14th JPSC examination and 20 other examinations, while 23 others were either postponed or kept under investigation. The government had also cancelled recruitment examinations conducted since 2014 by TDPL, the private testing agency allegedly linked to irregularities in the recruitment process. The cancelled examinations included the 11th to 13th JPSC Civil Services examinations.

The cancellation of the 11th to 13th JPSC examinations was particularly significant because several candidates selected through these examinations had already been appointed to government posts.

The selected candidates argued that the role of TDPL was not the same at every stage of the recruitment process and that any alleged irregularity should therefore be examined separately rather than leading to the automatic cancellation of the entire examination. Reports on the candidates’ legal challenge say they maintained that TDPL had no role in the preliminary examination or the 950-mark main examination, with its alleged involvement limited to the 100-mark interview.

The final merit list was prepared on the basis of 1,050 marks — 950 marks from the main examination and 100 marks from the interview. The candidates argued that many of them may have secured their positions primarily through their performance in the written examination.

They contended that even if irregularities were established in the interview process, it would not automatically follow that every candidate selected through the examination had benefited from malpractice.

The candidates have therefore sought an assessment of the actual impact of any alleged irregularities before the government takes action affecting all successful candidates.

The high court’s intervention now temporarily protects the appointments arising from the 11th to 13th JPSC examinations while the broader dispute over the alleged irregularities and the government’s blanket cancellation order is examined.