Ranchi, Sept. 18 -- The Jharkhand High Court on Friday extended the stay on termination of services of candidates appointed through the 11th and 13th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examinations.
The court of Justice Deepak Roshan also appointed former high court judge Gautam Kumar Choudhary to oversee and monitor the CID investigation into alleged irregularities in the JPSC and JSSC recruitment examinations.
The high court said that any candidate summoned by the CID's Special Investigation Team (SIT) and claiming harassment during the probe may approach the committee headed by Justice Choudhary (retd).
The state government on August 18 issued a notification terminating the JPSC and JSSC examinations which affected the services of several successful candidates who were working as government employees.
As many as 2,700 government employees were removed from their jobs by the notification.
The high court observed that the appointment procedure of the JPSC and JSSC may have been rigged and some employees could have got government jobs illegally, but not all appointments can be illegal and removing all employees with a single stroke is not permissible.
The state government filed its counter-affidavit in the matter, which the bench took on record on Friday.
The matter will be heard again on October 7.
The court had stayed the execution of the government's notifications cancelling the appointments of candidates selected through the 11th and 13th JPSC examinations on August 20. It had also stayed the cancellation of appointments of Food Safety Officers.
Following the interim order, the affected candidates were allowed to continue in their respective posts.
The court, however, had made it clear that candidates found to have secured appointments through foul means would face appropriate consequences, including termination from service, after the investigation is complete and in accordance with the outcome of the proceedings.
On September 15, the High Court directed the state government to file its counter-affidavit by September 18 in petitions challenging the cancellation of appointments made through the 11th and 13th JPSC examinations.
The government then sought four weeks to file its response, but the court declined, observing that the matter needed to be heard on a fast-track basis as it affected a large number of candidates and government employees.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.