Jharkhand High Court Stays Cancellation of 11th to 13th JPSC Exams and Food Safety Officer Recruitment

In a major development, the Jharkhand High Court has stayed, until further orders, the state government's decision to cancel the 11th to 13th JPSC Civil Services examinations and the recruitment of Food Safety Officers.

The order came during the hearing of three separate petitions challenging the government's notification under which appointments made through the affected examinations were ordered to be cancelled. Justice Deepak Roshan heard the matters and sought responses from both the Jharkhand government and the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC).

The petitioners were represented by advocates Indrajit Sinha, Amritansh Vats and P.A.S. Pati.

Appointed candidates challenge cancellation

Two of the petitions, filed by Deepmala and others and by Sonam Kumari, challenge the government's decision to cancel the 11th to 13th JPSC Civil Services examination conducted under Advertisement No. 1/2024.

Sonam Kumari told the court that she had resigned from her previous job after being selected for the Jharkhand civil services. She received her appointment letter on November 24, 2025, and had also completed her training.

According to her petition, the state government issued a notification on August 18 cancelling the recruitment, leaving her and other selected candidates facing uncertainty. She has sought quashing of the order cancelling her appointment.

The third petition was filed by Saurav Singh and others against the cancellation of appointments made through the Food Safety Officer examination conducted by JPSC under Advertisement No. 18/2023.

Government action followed CID findings

The state government's decision to cancel the examinations followed findings emerging from a CID investigation into alleged irregularities. The government had announced that examinations in which TDPL was involved would be cancelled and that possible irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted since 2014 would also be examined.

Following these announcements, the Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha Department issued notifications covering the affected examinations and recruitment processes.

According to the notification, 22 examinations were ordered to be cancelled, the processes relating to six examinations were put on hold, while 17 other examinations were brought under the scope of an investigation.

High Court stay brings temporary relief

The High Court's interim order means that the cancellation orders challenged in these petitions will remain stayed until further directions from the court. The state government and JPSC will now have to respond to the allegations and legal challenges raised by the petitioners.

The order provides temporary relief to the affected candidates, but the larger issue of alleged irregularities in the examination process remains before the court. The next stages of the proceedings will be important in determining the status of the examinations and appointments.