Jaipur, May 5 -- The Supreme Court of India on Monday upheld the Rajasthan high court's order of April 4, cancelling the 2021 sub-inspector recruitment exam amid large-scale paper leak allegations that led to 122 arrests. Additional advocate general of the Rajasthan high court, Shiv Mangal Sharma, said, "A bench, comprising justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, heard the matter and refused to interfere at the admission stage. The batch of special leave petitions [SLPs] arose from the Rajasthan High Court's Division Bench judgment dated April 4, 2026, which had set aside the entire recruitment and directed a fresh examination." On April 4, a division bench of the Rajasthan high court (Jaipur bench) upheld the cancellation of the SI-2021 exam, affirming a single bench order of August 28, 2025. The division bench, presided over by acting chief justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and justice Sangeeta Sharma, delivered the verdict while hearing pleas from the state government and selected candidates challenging the single bench ruling. "The court upheld the order passed by the single bench of justice Sameer Jain on August 28, 2025 to cancel the exam, which was notified to hire 859 people for the vacant posts, over a large-level paper leak allegations across the state prompting the Special Operation Group (SOG) to arrest at least 122 people since March 2024. Today, the youth got their justice. It was an extremely sensitive matter, which has been under the lens for the last five years," said advocate Harendra Neel, who argued for the unselected candidates. Upholding the division bench order, the Supreme Court noted critical flaws in the recruitment process, including the arrest of a Rajasthan Public Service Commission member whose bail it had previously cancelled, signalling deep systemic compromise. "It emphasised that in such situations, the only legally sustainable course was to segregate 'tainted' and 'untainted' candidates, which in the instant facts is not possible and hence the entire process becomes unreliable." The bench recalled its earlier precedent where, even with only 44 tainted MBBS candidates, the entire examination was cancelled nationwide. "However, the Supreme Court found no ground to interfere with the high court's conclusion that the process stood vitiated," said the additional advocate general. While dismissing the SLPs, the Supreme Court granted limited relief: Candidates employed in central government or public sector undertakings may approach the HC via review petitions to seek parity with state government employees, who received certain protections. Additional advocate general Kailash Chandra Sharma said, "With this order, the fresh recruitment process stands validated. Limited liberty granted for review petitions to only former central government and PSU candidates to seek similar relief as granted by high court to former state government employees." In November 2024, Kailash Sharma and 175 others petitioned the high court to cancel the sub-inspector 2021 recruitment exam after the SOG arrested 122 people, including 55 trainee sub-inspectors and two former Rajasthan Public Service Commission members, Babulal Katara and Ramu Ram Raika. After 10 months of proceedings, justice Jain's single bench cancelled the exam on August 28, 2025, stating: "To uphold the Rajasthan Police's motto of 'Trust in the Public and Fear in the Criminals,' cancelling the 2021 Sub-Inspector recruitment examination is imperative. This is necessitated by the fact that the tainted examination, plagued by malpractices yet to be fully uncovered, would erode public confidence in the police. Such an outcome would alarm both the public and State machinery." The state government and selected candidates challenged the order, arguing it was premature. "Only a negligible proportion (6.3%) of the total candidates have been found cheating in the exam. Cancelling the exam may affect the future of several candidates who were selected through a fair evaluation," the state said in its application on September 5, 2025. The division bench rejected the claim, stating: "An in-depth inquiry has revealed systemic irregularities in the conduct of the SI Recruitment Examination 2021, which has undermined the integrity of the entire selection process, leaving no plausible chance of segregation of tainted and untainted candidates."...