Ranchi: Jharkhand high court on Friday quashed the state govt’s decision to cancel the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examinations, securing the jobs of more than 2,000 candidates who had been declared successful.Justice Deepak Roshan passed the order while hearing several petitions filed by successful candidates, who challenged the cancellation of the examinations and termination of their services by the govt.While disposing of the petitions on Friday, the high court observed that the govt’s decision to cancel the examinations was unfair and unjust. However, the court said the CID investigation would continue to its logical conclusion and that appropriate action could be taken on the basis of the final findings of the probe.The personnel and administrative reforms department had, on Aug 18, issued a notification cancelling the JSSC-CGL examinations. The move rendered hundreds of govt employees jobless.The candidates approached the high court challenging the govt’s decision. The examinations had been cancelled following massive protests by aspirants over alleged question paper leaks and other irregularities. The decision affected candidates selected through 23 competitive examinations conducted by JSSC. More than 2,000 successful candidates were removed from service after govt cancelled the examinations.State govt, represented by advocate general Rohitashya Roy, told the high court that there was evidence of large-scale irregularities and leakage of question papers. He said the allegations had been substantiated in a probe conducted by CID.Roy argued that cancelling the examinations was the only way available to the govt to rectify the alleged irregularities.The successful candidates, led by Akash Gaurav, Niranjan Khess and several others, contended that they had been removed from service without even being issued show-cause notices.The petitioners were represented by advocates Indrajit Sinha, Amritansh Vats and others. They argued that the govt’s decision to cancel the examinations merely through a notification was illegal.During an earlier hearing, the high court had stayed the operation of the Aug 18 notification through which the govt had cancelled the examinations.
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