The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday stayed the Hemant Soren government's decision to cancel several state recruitment exams in response to weeks of student protests.
The cancellation of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) had been a major demand made by the protesters, who had also urged a CBI probe into the irregularities in the exams.
However, the stay on the exams being cancelled now comes amid protests by another group of affected candidates, four of whom moved the High Court on Thursday.
The petitioners include successful candidates from the 11th-13th JPSC Combined Civil Services Examination, the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam, as well as the Food Safety Officer examination.
This group's main argument was that the government was trying to cancel the results of the recruitment examinations without consulting them, as the decision would affect a number of them who had already been recruited into various posts.
"We never imagined something like this could happen to us. That is why we decided to come here to seek justice from the court against the government's decision that was made without any evidence or investigation," Jharkhand Administrative Service (JAS) officer Surya Prakash Kujur told ANI.
They also argued that while action should be taken against candidates who engaged in exam malpractices, it would be unjust to cancel everyone's results and remove all successful candidates from their jobs without proper hearings.
The results of as many as 22 recruitment exams were in danger of being cancelled by the government after protests and hunger strikes by the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch, which also saw widespread support from student organisations, such as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the All India Students' Organisation (AISA).
This included the 11th-13th JPSC Combined Civil Services examination, the 14th JPSC Combined Civil Services examination, the JSSC-CGL, the Jharkhand Eligibility Test 2024, and the 6th Limited Deputy Collector examination.
Other affected recruitments included examinations for posts such as Food Safety Officers, Child Development Project Officers, Forest Range Officers, and Assistant Public Prosecutors, among others.
