Roshan Kumar
Ranchi
The decision by the Jharkhand government to cancel the JSSC-CGL exam and 22 other recruitment tests has drawn sharp criticism. Legal experts and qualified appointees term the cancellation a flawed, arbitrary move that punishes innocent candidates instead of bureaucratic officials and examination conducting agencies.
Former Advocate General Ajit Kumar has termed the examination cancellation decision as a poorly planned order and a ‘Tughlaqi farman’. “This also shows that all competitive exams in recent years were nothing but deception and fraud,” he said.
Echoing the views of Ajit Kumar, Davesh Ajmani a Jharkhand High Court lawyer said that appointment letters of the 1750 candidates were provisional as mentioned in the letters itself that subject to outcome of CID investigation the appointment shall be made permanent, however the investigation is yet to be concluded.
Ajmani said, “The appointment letter of candidates is a vital document through which these candidates can knock on the door of Jharkhand High Court. Until the CID investigation reports attain finality, the provisional appointment letter may stay in force.”
The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) last year announced the results of CGL on Jharkhand High Court’s direction.
The Jharkhand High Court in December last year dismissed a petition seeking a CBI investigation into the alleged paper leak in the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission’s Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination paving way for the long-delayed results to be published.
A division bench of former Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Rajesh Shankar had directed the Commission to publish the pending results without further delay.
The court had clarified that the exam results would now be released, and the recruitment process for candidates would proceed smoothly. The court stated that the results of all candidates except 10 would be published, paving the way for thousands of appointments.
The exam was held on September 21-22, 2024. It was alleged of serious irregularities and paper leaks during the exam, which warranted a CBI investigation.
The JSSC-CGL examination — conducted for recruitment to more than 2,000 state government posts — was held on September 21 and 22, 2024, across 823 examination centres. Out of 3,04,769 candidates who appeared, the Commission shortlisted 2,145 candidates on December 5, 2024.
However, the declaration of results was halted after Rajesh Kumar and others filed a public interest litigation (PIL) demanding a CBI probe, alleging the exam had been compromised through leaked question papers.
Taking note of the allegations, the High Court imposed an interim stay on the release of results on December 17, 2024.
