Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) on Tuesday informed Jharkhand High Court that it has postponed the mains examination of the combined civil services. The High court is hearing a petition challenging the examination process where the petitioner maintained the reservation policy was not followed by the JPSC while declaring the result of the preliminary test.
The senior lawyer A.K. Das who appeared for the JPSC informed the bench of the High court of Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad that the Commission has postponed the mains examination which was set to start from January 28.
The High Court conducted the hearing through video conferencing and February 15 has been fixed as the next date of hearing. On Monday also the court had heard the matter when it asked the JPSC whether the proper procedure was followed in declaring the result of the preliminary examination. The petitioner said that in the preliminary result, the JPSC against 114 unreserved posts, declared 768 students as successful which otherwise should have been fifteen times more than the sanctioned posts. The court on this had directed the JPSC to reply by Tuesday.
The senior lawyer Amritans Vatsa who appeared for the petitioner Kumar Satyam said that in the bylaws of the JPSC and advertisement, there was no mention of reservation in declaring the result for the preliminary test.
As per the schedules announced, the mains examination was scheduled from January 28 till January 30 at 14 examination centers across Jharkhand. Students were asked to download the admit card from the website of the JPSC from January 15 onwards. The JPSC issued a notification to hold a combined civil service examination comprising seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth JPSC against 252 seats. A total of 4293 students were declared successful. However, students raised questions over the examination process and the result as they alleged corruption in declaring preliminary results.
Students have been carrying agitation against the JPSC as they alleged corruption in declaring results of the preliminary test. Students had also met Governor Ramesh Bais and requested him to order an inquiry into the alleged corruption The delegation told the Governor among 4293 successful candidates, 242 such candidates have their roll number in a serial. They are from different examination centers in Lohardaga, Sahebganj, Latehar, and Gumla.
But even if the JPSC announced the schedules for the mains examination, questions were raised whether it was a wise step to conduct an offline examination during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Hemant Soren government extended the period of the mini-lockdown till January 31.