Justice Deepak Roshan passed the order on Thursday while hearing separate petitions challenging government notifications issued on August 18. The court stayed the cancellation until further orders and directed the state government and the Jharkhand Public Service Commission to respond to the petitions.
The matter is scheduled to be heard again on September 15. The court also directed that candidates affected by the cancellation be allowed to continue in service, placing emphasis on due process and principles of natural justice before appointments already made could be terminated.
About 342 candidates selected through the 11th, 12th and 13th JPSC Combined Civil Services examination are serving in different posts. The Food Safety Officer recruitment involved dozens of appointees whose jobs had also been placed at risk by the government action.
The petitioners argued that they had completed the recruitment process, received appointments and joined their posts after being selected on merit. Removing the entire batch without establishing wrongdoing by individual candidates, they contended, would punish people who had no demonstrated connection with alleged malpractice.
The interim protection does not amount to a final ruling on the legality of the examinations or the appointments. Investigations into alleged irregularities can continue, and candidates found to have benefited from malpractice could still face action depending on the findings and subsequent court orders.
The dispute stems from a sweeping examination clean-up announced by the Hemant Soren government following weeks of protests by job aspirants over alleged irregularities in recruitment tests. The government cancelled the JSSC Combined Graduate Level examination and moved against examinations, results and selections linked to TSR Data Processing Private Limited, a private agency involved in conducting recruitment processes.
Government notifications subsequently covered a wide range of recruitment exercises conducted through JPSC and other agencies. Posts affected included civil services positions as well as recruitment for Food Safety Officers and several other government services.
The administration based its intervention partly on material emerging from a Criminal Investigation Department inquiry into alleged irregularities and the role played by TDPL. Questions had been raised over examination procedures, handling of recruitment processes and whether prescribed safeguards had been followed.
The controversy intensified after job aspirants held a prolonged agitation demanding cancellation of examinations they alleged had been compromised. Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto ended a 16-day hunger strike after the government agreed to cancel the JSSC-CGL examination and take wider action over TDPL-linked recruitment processes.
The government also announced an examination of competitive recruitment exercises conducted since 2014 and initiated work on reforms intended to strengthen the system. A high-level team headed by senior official Amitabh Kaushal was tasked with preparing measures aimed at improving recruitment procedures and preventing irregularities.
That action, however, created a second group of aggrieved candidates: people who had already cleared examinations and, in several cases, begun working in government posts. Successful candidates argued that a blanket cancellation treated every selection as tainted even before responsibility for alleged misconduct had been established.
Some affected candidates demonstrated outside the state secretariat in Ranchi seeking restoration of their appointments. Their legal challenge has brought the competing interests surrounding the recruitment controversy before the High Court: demands from aspirants for examinations free of manipulation on one side and the rights of already-appointed candidates on the other.
The High Court’s intervention therefore applies specifically to the recruitment processes placed before it and should not be interpreted as reversing every examination-related decision taken by the government. Other cancelled or investigated recruitment processes remain subject to separate administrative action and legal challenges.
