The New Indian Express ·
Recruitment exam row: Jharkhand HC gives government 48 hours to submit CID report
RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file its counter-affidavit by September 18 in a case challenging the cancellation of appointments made through the 11th and 13th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examinations.
Justice Deepak Roshan, hearing a batch of petitions challenging the government’s August 20 notifications, rejected the state’s request for four weeks to file its response and fixed September 18 as the next date of hearing.
Earlier, the court had sought the CID’s investigation report to clarify the facts on which the government based its decision to cancel the appointments. The government will now place details of the findings of the investigation and the action taken based on those findings before the court.
Meanwhile, the court continued the interim relief granted to candidates appointed through the JSSC-CGL examination. Its stay on the state government’s August 18 order cancelling their appointments will remain in force. The candidates will therefore continue to hold their posts for the time being.
Several petitions were filed in the High Court after the state government decided to cancel certain appointments. The petitions challenged the government notification concerning the cancellation of the JPSC 11th–13th Civil Services Examination, recruitment of Food Safety Officers, CDPO recruitment and the JSSC-CGL examination.
On August 18, based on facts revealed during the CID investigation, the state government announced the cancellation of all examinations involving TDPL. It also ordered an inquiry into possible irregularities in all recruitment examinations held since 2014.
Following the decision, the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language issued a notification detailing the cancellation of 22 examinations, suspension of the process for six examinations and inclusion of 17 examinations within the scope of the investigation.
As appointments had already been made through these four examinations, the selected candidates approached the High Court. The court granted them interim relief by staying the government’s order cancelling their appointments.
The court, however, made it clear that candidates found to have secured appointments through foul play during the ongoing investigation would face consequences, including termination from service. It also said the final status of the appointments would be decided after completion of the investigation and in accordance with the outcome of the case.