By The Jharkhand High Court has named retired judge Gautam Kumar Chaudhary to receive complaints from JSSC-CGL candidates facing harassment during the SIT investigation.
Justice Deepak Roshan’s bench also appointed a retired IPS officer as nodal officer to support Justice Chaudhary in this role.
The interim stay on cancelled JPSC, JSSC-CGL, CDPO and Food Safety Officer appointments continues, protecting 99 candidates.
The government filed its affidavit at today’s hearing, represented by senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and Solicitor General Rohitashya Roy.
The court granted petitioners’ counsel 10 days to file counter-affidavits, with the next hearing scheduled for October 7.
The government filed its affidavit responding to the appointment cancellation decision as part of today’s proceedings.
Petitioners’ counsel requested additional time to file counter-affidavits, which the court has allowed within 10 days of receiving notice copies.
The case also continues to cover cancelled recruitment advertisements for the JPSC’s 11th and 13th Civil Service examinations, CDPO and Food Safety Officer positions.
The cancellations trace back to an August 17 announcement by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, made after a 24-day student protest over alleged recruitment irregularities.
The government separately scrapped all examinations conducted by blacklisted agency TSR Data Processing Private Limited and ordered a CID probe into recruitment exams dating back to 2014.
A separate Supreme Court petition filed by activist Harisharan Devgan continues to seek a transfer of the investigation from the state CID to the CBI.
The next hearing in the Jharkhand High Court case has been scheduled for October 7, 2026.
Candidates affected by the cancellations have previously staged protests, including a human chain and torchlight demonstrations, since the case first began.
Justice Deepak Roshan’s bench at Tuesday’s earlier hearing had already rejected the government’s request for a week’s extension and questioned the pace of the CID investigation.
The interim stay protecting appointments made under Advertisement No. 10/2023 continues to shield 99 candidates, in a case filed by Akash Gaurav and 98 others.
High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
