Jharkhand Students Accuse Govt Of Misleading Aspirants After JPSC Cancellation Stay

The Jharkhand High Court's decision to put on hold the state government's cancellation of appointments made through the 11th and 13th JPSC examinations has triggered fresh anger among student groups.

The JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch on Thursday accused the Hemant Soren government of misleading thousands of candidates who had been protesting alleged irregularities in the state's recruitment process.

Manch leaders claimed the government did not strongly defend its decision before the high court. Kunal Pratap Singh alleged that neither the advocate general nor any senior counsel appeared to argue in favour of the cancellation.

"Neither the advocate general nor any senior advocate appeared in the high court on Thursday to defend the government's stand of cancelling the recruitment exams. The lawyers who were present did not utter a single word in defence. This clearly shows that this was a trap -- a trap to end the protest," he said.

The student groups had held a 26-day agitation at Ranchi's Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium. The protest was later suspended for two months after the government announced the cancellation of 22 recruitment examinations.

Ravindra Paswan, another Manch leader, said the protesters had initially welcomed the government's move, believing it would address alleged irregularities in the examination system.

"We believed in the government's intention and thought it wanted a crackdown on irregularities in recruitment examinations, but we were wrong. The government has deceived thousands of job aspirants," he said.

The Manch said it would intensify its protest and announced plans to burn effigies of Chief Minister Hemant Soren across all 24 districts on Friday.

The high court, meanwhile, stayed the operation of the notifications cancelling appointments made through the 11th and 13th JPSC examinations. It also stayed the order cancelling the appointments of food safety officers.

Justice Deepak Roshan, while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the government's notifications, directed the state to submit its response by September 15. The matter will be heard next on that date.

JLKM leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who ended his 16-day hunger strike, welcomed the court's intervention. He said the movement was aimed at addressing alleged corruption and irregularities in the recruitment system rather than targeting candidates who had secured appointments.

"We began the movement not against any candidate, but against corruption, irregularities, and systemic flaws in the recruitment exams process. Therefore, we remain firmly committed to our core demands," Mahto said.

He maintained that candidates who were found to have secured appointments legitimately should receive justice, while the movement would continue to oppose corruption and irregularities in the recruitment process.

(With inputs from PTI)