Ranchi, Oct 7 The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday extended the stay on termination of services of government employees whose appointments were affected by the cancellation of certain examinations conducted by the state's Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).
Justice Deepak Roshan heard a series of petitions filed by employees challenging the state government’s decision to cancel the examinations and subsequently terminate their services.
The hearing could not be concluded on Wednesday and will continue on Thursday.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocates Rajiv Ranjan, Indrajit Sinha and Amritansh Vats argued that the state government had arbitrarily cancelled examinations conducted by the JPSC and JSSC.
The counsels submitted that the Special Investigation Team constituted to probe alleged irregularities had not established any nexus or involvement of the affected candidates in any wrongdoing related to the conduct of the examinations.
The state government had issued a notification on August 18 cancelling examinations conducted by the JPSC and JSSC since 2014.
The decision affected about 23 examinations conducted by the commissions and resulted in successful candidates who had secured government employment facing the possibility of termination.
The high court was hearing petitions filed by several successful candidates who are currently employed in government services.
The petitioners’ counsels further submitted that the SIT investigation had been underway for nearly two years, but no chargesheet had been filed so far.
In the absence of a chargesheet or specific evidence establishing individual culpability, it would be unjust to cancel the examinations and terminate the services of all successful candidates, they argued.
Defending the state government’s decision, Advocate General Rohitashya Roy and senior advocate Meenakshi Arora submitted that the investigation into the alleged scam in the state’s public service examinations was still underway.
They said the investigation had revealed irregularities and alleged foul play at various levels of the examination process, which had led the government to cancel the examinations.
The government on August 18 issued notifications cancelling the appointments following the ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment examinations.
