The Jharkhand High Court on Friday quashed the state government’s notification cancelling the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination, a decision taken in August amid protests by job aspirants over alleged recruitment irregularities.
The verdict is expected to secure jobs for more than 2,000 government employees who had cleared the examination and were recruited through the process.
Hearing petitions filed by successful candidates, Justice Deepak Roshan set aside the August 18 notification, terming the government’s decision “unfair and unjust”.
The state government defended the cancellation, arguing that investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had established evidence of large-scale irregularities and question paper leaks.
Appearing for the government, Advocate General Rohitashya Roy argued that the department was left with no option but to cancel the examination in view of the evidence of mass bungling and paper leaks found during the CID probe.
“The only way left for the Government to redress the wrong was to terminate the examinations,” Roy had submitted.
The successful candidates, led by Akash Gaurav and Niranjan Khess, had challenged the cancellation, arguing that their services had been terminated without even issuing show-cause notices or giving them an opportunity to present their case.