The Jharkhand High Court has voided the state government's August 18, 2026, order that rescinded the JSSC recruitment drive under Advertisement No. 10 of 2023. LiveLaw reported that a single-judge bench led by Justice Deepak Roshan found the executive move inconsistent with prior High Court and Supreme Court rulings on the same hiring cycle. The judges ordered that the candidates be treated as having served continuously, preventing the loss of financial and other professional perks tied to the cancellation.
The conflict traces back to the 2023 graduate-level competitive exam, which was postponed from early 2024 due to a paper leak. According to LiveLaw, the tests were held in late September 2024. After complaints of irregularities, a divisional bench ordered a special investigation in late 2025, and the commission released final results shortly after. The Supreme Court later upheld this approach in January 2026, noting that issued appointment letters would depend on the eventual verdict of the related criminal cases.
The state government issued the cancellation order in August 2026 after protests in Ranchi, claiming that widespread fraud, including tampered answer sheets and digital errors, made it hard to distinguish legitimate hires from those benefiting from the flaws. The applicants argued that the state was reopening a settled issue while the probe was still active. The High Court agreed, stating that the executive branch could not reverse judicial decisions simply by citing new evidence or arrests.
The judges observed that the cabinet’s choice was partly driven by public pressure but lacked clear disclosure of the specific documents used to cancel this exam along with 21 others. They held that while writ courts do not need to deeply scrutinize administrative reasoning, some reasonable basis must exist. The bench noted that its comments would not hinder the active probe, asking for it to be completed fairly and quickly. The hires now stay in their roles, with their positions ultimately tied to the results of the pending criminal trials, as the earlier High Court and Supreme Court orders continue to govern the matter.