Major Setback For Hemant Soren Government As High Court Puts Hold On JPSC, JSSC Exam Cancellation
In a major setback for the Jharkhand state government, the High Court on Thursday, August 20, stayed an order cancelling 22 government recruitment examinations, offering interim relief to thousands of affected candidates. The state government had ordered the blanket cancellation following a CID probe into alleged irregularities in examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) through service provider TDPL. Alongside the cancellation, the administration had announced a high-level committee to oversee systemic reforms within both the JPSC and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).
The state’s order had targeted recruitment across key administrative, legal, medical, and educational sectors. Affected posts included Civil Judges, Deputy Collectors, Assistant Professors, Drug Inspectors, Dental Doctors, Assistant Engineers, and candidates from the 11th–13th Combined Civil Services, JSSC-CGL, and Food Safety Officer examinations.
Court Order Follows Four Writ Petitions By Selected Candidates
The court order comes in response to four separate writ petitions filed by successful candidates — including Avadhesh Kumar, Deepmala, Sonam Kumari, and Saurabh Singh — many of whom had already formally joined government service following their selection. The matter was heard by Justice Deepak Roshan of the Jharkhand High Court, with advocates Indrajit Sinha and Amritansh Vats representing the petitioners before the court.
Counsel for the petitioners argued that the state had acted unilaterally, violating the principles of natural justice by terminating appointments without individual hearings or inquiry. The petitions asserted that while those proven guilty of misconduct should face action, penalising entire merit lists unjustly jeopardises the livelihoods of candidates who cleared examinations strictly through fair means.
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Petitioners in the JSSC-CGL matter further submitted that their results had originally been declared in accordance with prior directions of the High Court, raising questions regarding the legal validity of the state’s subsequent decision to scrap the entire process.
Background: Cancellation Followed Weeks Of Protests
The cancellation order had come days after the state government’s decision to scrap the JSSC-CGL examination and recruitment tests conducted by TSR Data Processing Pvt Ltd (TDPL) since 2014, following weeks of protests by job aspirants over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations. Chief Minister Hemant Soren had announced the cancellation of the JSSC-CGL exam and all job tests conducted by the outsourced agency TDPL since 2014 at a marathon cabinet meeting, calling it one of the major demands of the protesting students.
The government had subsequently released a list of 44 recruitment examinations conducted by the JPSC and JSSC that were cancelled following the irregularities, amid the ongoing student protests. The cancelled examinations covered posts including drug inspectors, assistant professors, deputy collectors, dental doctors, assistant engineers, civil judges, additional public prosecutors, forest range officers, lecturers in government polytechnics, senior scientific officers, and assistant conservators of forests, among various other administrative and technical positions.
However, candidates who had already cleared the JSSC-CGL exam and secured government jobs opposed the cancellation, saying around 2,000 people could lose their employment altogether as a result. The High Court has also sought responses from the state government and the JPSC on the matter.