Jharkhand High Court stays Soren govt’s order revoking JPSC-JSSC appointments

Ranchi, Aug 20 (IANS) The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday stayed the Hemant Soren-led government’s decision to cancel the appointments made through the JPSC and JSSC recruitment examinations.

This brings relief to thousands of candidates who cleared these exams and got respective job appointments.

The decision to stay the revocation was taken by a bench of Justice Deepak Roshan.

According to the court order, the government’s order, which cancelled appointments related to the JPSC’s 11th–13th Combined Civil Services Examination and the Food Safety Officer examination, will remain on hold until further directives.

The High Court has also sought responses from the state government and the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC).

The petitions were filed by successful and selected candidates. Advocates Indrajit Sinha, Amritansh Vats, and PAS Pati presented the case on behalf of the petitioners. Two separate petitions had challenged the government’s decision to cancel the advertisement (No. 01/2024) for the JPSC’s 11th–13th Combined Civil Services Examination.

Meanwhile, a petition has also been filed by Saurav Singh and others against the cancellation of appointments for the post of Food Safety Officer.

Successful candidates in these examinations have already been appointed, while many have joined service and even completed their training.

Petitioner Sonam Kumari stated in her plea that she had resigned from a job elsewhere to accept the appointment in Jharkhand. She received her appointment letter on November 24, 2025, and completed her training.

Subsequently, the examination and appointment were cancelled via a notification issued by the state government on August 18, the petition said, urging the court to quash this government order.

The counsel for the petitioners argued that if irregularities occurred at any stage of the recruitment process, an investigation should be conducted and action taken against the guilty parties. And, it is unjust to cancel the appointments of candidates — who took the exam following the prescribed procedure and were selected on merit — without individual scrutiny or a hearing.

The petitioners have also invoked the principles of natural justice.

Notably, the state government had decided to cancel several examinations late on the night of August 18, based on findings from a CID inquiry into alleged irregularities in competitive exams. Along with cancelling exams linked to TDPL, the state government also ordered an investigation into potential irregularities in various recruitment examinations held since 2014.

Subsequently, the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms, and Official Language issued notifications announcing the cancellation of 22 examinations, the suspension of the process for six others, and the decision to place 17 additional examinations under scrutiny.

Candidates who had been selected and appointed have launched a protest against this decision.

–IANS

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