The Jharkhand High Court has observed that the state cannot sack appointed candidates through a notification alone without natural justice.
Justice Deepak Roshan also said that the appointments cannot all be considered wrong in the same way.
The interim stay on the cancellation of the JPSC, JSSC CGL, CDPO and Food Safety Officer appointments continues.
The state’s affidavit was filed on September 18.
The next hearing is set for October 7.
The petitioners were given time to file counter-affidavits, which the court has allowed within 10 days of receiving copies of the notices.
The next hearing has been fixed for October 7, 2026, at 11:30 am.
The court also appointed retired High Court judge Gautam Kumar Chaudhary to monitor the SIT investigation and hear candidates’ grievances.
The state government had announced the cancellations in August after weeks of student protests over alleged irregularities in the recruitment examinations.
A separate petition by activist Harisharan Devgan in the Supreme Court seeks a CBI probe, and the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and the state on it.
Natural justice is the legal principle that a person must be heard, and given a chance to respond, before an adverse decision is taken against them.
The observations came during Friday’s hearing before Justice Deepak Roshan in the case titled Subhash Murmu and others versus the State of Jharkhand, registered as W.P.(S) No. 6512 of 2026.
The interim stay continues on the cancellation of the JPSC 11th to 13th Combined Civil Service Examinations, JSSC CGL, CDPO and Food Safety Officer appointments.
Reports say the interim stay was first granted around August 20, 2026, and the court has now kept it in force until the next hearing.
The state filed its affidavit on September 18, saying the cancellation was warranted because of alleged malpractice and irregularities.
High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
