RANCHI, November 6 (Aalimi Nation) – The Jharkhand High Court on Friday quashed the state government's decision to cancel the 2024 Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level examination, a ruling that favours candidates who had cleared the test.
Justice Deepak Roshan set aside the notification issued in August and described the government's decision as "unfair and unjust". The court also set aside the cancellation of the recruitment advertisement linked to the examination. The ruling came on several petitions filed by candidates who had qualified.
What the court decided on the JSSC CGL exam
According to the available account of the hearing, the candidates told the court that they had not been given an opportunity to present their case before the examination was cancelled. The state government argued that evidence of mass irregularities and question paper leaks justified the cancellation.
The full text of the judgment was not available at the time of writing, and the court's detailed reasoning has not been reported beyond its finding on fairness. Officials have not said whether the state will appeal to a larger bench or the Supreme Court.
The ruling was described as a major relief for candidates who had already been selected and appointed. The court allowed the investigation into the alleged irregularities to continue, so the inquiry itself is not affected by the order.
Background to the cancellation
The state issued the notification on August 18, after weeks of protests by job aspirants over alleged irregularities in recruitment. The decision formed part of a wider move by the Hemant Soren-led government to cancel 22 recruitment examinations held since 2014 by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission and an outsourced agency. It also ordered inquiries into 23 other examinations.
The cancellation left thousands of candidates who had qualified without jobs, according to accounts of the decision. Separately, on August 20, the High Court stayed the government's order cancelling the appointments of employees recruited through the 11th to 13th public service commission examinations, and later deferred hearings in that matter.
The wider recruitment dispute has also reached the Supreme Court, which has issued notice to the Centre and the state on a public interest petition seeking an independent or Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the commission's 2025 civil services preliminary examination. That matter is separate from Friday's ruling.
What remains unclear
Several points have not been confirmed. The number of candidates affected by Friday's order has not been officially stated, and there is no announcement on whether appointment letters or results will now be issued without delay. It is also unclear how the court's order interacts with the continuing investigation, since reports say the probe may proceed while the examination stands restored.
Nor has the state government responded publicly to the judgment. The government's earlier position, that leaks and irregularities made the examination unsafe to retain, remains the stated basis of its decision, but the court did not accept that the process followed was fair to candidates.
The next steps are expected to be an official reaction from the state, a possible challenge to the order, and a decision by the commission on the remaining stages of recruitment. Candidates' groups and opposition parties have not been quoted on the ruling in the sources reviewed.
