Jharkhand News: Jharkhand High Court heard the CBI investigation of the first and second JPSC Combined Civil Services Competitive Examination and the appeal petition filed by the state government. The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Justice Anand Sen, after hearing the CBI’s side during the hearing of the case, took the status report of the investigation on record. The division bench asked the state government, what happened to the accused (state government officials) against whom the CBI had sought approval to prosecute? Why is this getting delayed? Against whom has prosecution approval been given? The division bench directed the state government to file an affidavit. The next hearing of the case will be on October 5, 2023.
There is no justification for hearing the appeal petition of the state government now.
Earlier, on behalf of the appointed officers, senior advocate Ajit Kumar said that the appointment has been done. Salary was also released in the light of the Supreme Court order. The state government has confirmed his service and also given him continuous promotion. In such a situation, there is no point in hearing the appeal petition of the state government. Senior advocate Shri Kumar urged the division bench to dismiss the appeal petition. At the same time, advocate Sanjay Piprawal and advocate Rakesh Ranjan appeared on behalf of Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC).
PIL filed
It is noteworthy that the applicants Buddhadev Oraon and Pawan Kumar Chaudhary have filed a PIL demanding a CBI inquiry into the irregularities in the JPSC examinations. CBI is investigating the irregularities in the light of the court order. At the same time, the state government has filed an appeal petition challenging the order of the single bench in the case of 19 officers. All the petitions are being heard together.
what is the matter
On June 12, 2012, Jharkhand High Court had ordered CBI to investigate irregularities in 12 examinations conducted by JPSC. The court had stopped the salary payment of the officers appointed through the second examination of JPSC, stopping them from working. The order of the High Court was challenged in the Supreme Court, in which interim relief was given in the matter of working and salary payment of officers. Later, a review petition was filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of public interest petitioner Buddhadev Oraon. The Supreme Court had reinstated the CBI investigation in this case in 2017.