High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
In its affidavit, the Jharkhand government has argued that cancelling about 2,700 appointments in one stroke would lead to job losses for many state officers, according to a Live Dainik report.
The state also said a JPSC examination and the resulting appointments take two to three years to complete.
Justice Deepak Roshan of the High Court, meanwhile, observed that the state cannot remove appointees by notification alone without following natural justice.
The interim stay on the cancellations continues, and petitioners have been given time to file counter-affidavits.
The next hearing is on October 7.
Reports say the interim stay was first granted around August 20, 2026, and the court has now kept it in force until the next hearing.
The state filed its affidavit on September 18, saying the cancellation was warranted because of alleged malpractice and irregularities.
According to a Live Dainik report of the affidavit, the state said a JPSC exam and the resulting appointments take two to three years to complete.
The same report said the state argued that cancelling about 2,700 appointments in one stroke would lead to job losses for many state officers.
Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and the Advocate General represented the state, and JPSC was represented by its own counsel.
Senior advocate Rajiv Ranjan, a former Advocate General of Jharkhand, appeared for the candidates along with several other advocates.
The petitioners were given time to file counter-affidavits, which the court has allowed within 10 days of receiving copies of the notices.
The next hearing has been fixed for October 7, 2026, at 11:30 am.
The court also appointed retired High Court judge Gautam Kumar Chaudhary to monitor the SIT investigation and hear candidates’ grievances.
The state government had announced the cancellations in August after weeks of student protests over alleged irregularities in the recruitment examinations.
High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
