The Jharkhand High Court ruled today that candidates facing harassment during the SIT investigation into the JSSC-CGL recruitment case can lodge complaints before retired High Court judge Gautam Kumar Chaudhary.
Justice Deepak Roshan’s bench appointed a retired IPS officer as nodal officer to assist Justice Chaudhary in receiving and addressing these complaints.
The interim stay on the cancellation of JPSC, JSSC-CGL, CDPO and Food Safety Officer appointments remains in effect, continuing to protect 99 candidates.
The state government filed its affidavit at today’s hearing, with senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and Solicitor General Rohitashya Roy appearing on its behalf.
Petitioners’ counsel were granted 10 days to file counter-affidavits, with the case scheduled to return on October 7.
Justice Deepak Roshan’s bench at Tuesday’s earlier hearing had already rejected the government’s request for a week’s extension and questioned the pace of the CID investigation.
The interim stay protecting appointments made under Advertisement No. 10/2023 continues to shield 99 candidates, in a case filed by Akash Gaurav and 98 others.
Senior Supreme Court advocate Meenakshi Arora and Solicitor General Rohitashya Roy appeared for the state government at today’s hearing.
The government filed its affidavit responding to the appointment cancellation decision as part of today’s proceedings.
Petitioners’ counsel requested additional time to file counter-affidavits, which the court has allowed within 10 days of receiving notice copies.
The case also continues to cover cancelled recruitment advertisements for the JPSC’s 11th and 13th Civil Service examinations, CDPO and Food Safety Officer positions.
The cancellations trace back to an August 17 announcement by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, made after a 24-day student protest over alleged recruitment irregularities.
The government separately scrapped all examinations conducted by blacklisted agency TSR Data Processing Private Limited and ordered a CID probe into recruitment exams dating back to 2014.
A separate Supreme Court petition filed by activist Harisharan Devgan continues to seek a transfer of the investigation from the state CID to the CBI.
High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
