High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
The Jharkhand High Court has ordered a sealed status report from the state government in the JSSC-CGL cancellation case, rejecting its request for four weeks to respond.
The court granted only two additional days at Tuesday’s hearing, while keeping its interim stay on the cancelled appointments in place.
The stay covers appointments under Advertisement No. 10/2023, protecting 99 candidates, in a case filed by Akash Gaurav and 98 others.
The matter also includes cancelled recruitment advertisements for the JPSC, JSSC CGL-2023, CDPO and Food Safety Officer exams, with the next hearing fixed for September 18 at 10:30 am.
The cancellations trace back to CM Hemant Soren’s August 17 announcement after a 24-day student protest, alongside a separate Supreme Court plea seeking a CBI probe.
Petitioner Akash Gaurav and 98 other affected candidates are represented by senior counsel and former Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, along with advocate Shreya Mishra.
Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora represented the Jharkhand government at Tuesday’s hearing, where the state sought four weeks to file a detailed response.
The case also covers cancelled recruitment advertisements for the JPSC, JSSC CGL-2023, CDPO and Food Safety Officer examinations, affecting thousands of applicants.
The cancellations trace back to an August 17 announcement by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, made after a 24-day student protest over alleged recruitment irregularities.
The government simultaneously scrapped all examinations conducted by blacklisted agency TSR Data Processing Private Limited and ordered a CID probe into recruitment exams dating back to 2014.
A separate committee headed by senior IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal has been tasked with framing rules to prevent future examination irregularities.
In parallel, a Supreme Court petition filed by activist Harisharan Devgan is separately seeking to transfer the recruitment-irregularities investigation from the state CID to the CBI.
Successful JSSC-CGL candidates who had already secured appointments staged protests, including a human chain and torchlight demonstrations, after the cancellation was first announced.
High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
