‘Deceived, new fight begins’: J’khand students after HC stays exam cancellation order

NEW DELHI: Student leaders protesting against the alleged irregularities in Jharkhand’s recruitment exams criticised the Hemant Soren-led government on Thursday after the high court blocked the government’s decision to cancel the jobs of employees who had been appointed through the 11th and 13th JPSC exams.Student leader Kunal Pratap Singh claimed that the advocate general representing the government did not appear in the high court while it was hearing the PIL challenging the cancellation of the recruitment exams.“JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch had been staging a peaceful protest for the last 26 days. What did we get in return? Deceit. If it is any case of the CM himself, advocates like Kapil Sibal come from Delhi. But when such an important matter of the students of Jharkhand is heard in high court, the advocate general doesn’t even appear before the court. No senior advocate was there either. The lawyer present there did not say even one word. This clearly shows that this was a trap – a trap to end the protest, ruin 26 days of our hard work and play with the emotions of the students of Jharkhand,” the student leader said.“The CM himself had said that a massive corrupt system is active. Despite saying that, if the CM takes us for fools, he will be committing a grave mistake. If he feels that students of Jharkhand cannot gather together once again, he should come out of this illusion. If we want, we can call lakhs of students of Jharkhand to Ranchi tomorrow. We had given you 2 months’ time after careful deliberation… But how can we trust the investigation when you are unable to properly present the case before the Court? When your advocate is not appearing before the court? Students of Jharkhand are being cheated again and again. Why?” he added.Another student leader, Ravindra Paswan, said that a “new fight” will take birth soon against the government.“With whatever we saw in the court today, it became clear that the Govt deceived the lakhs of students in Jharkhand. The govt cheated lakhs of students of Jharkhand. It was fine until you were not cancelling the exam, until you were not agreeing to a CBI investigation,” Paswan said.“But after this deceit with students, a new fight takes birth. We, the students, will give you an answer for this. We saw your intent in the court today. You deceived not only the lakhs of students in Jharkhand but also the general public and parents of the state who had been sending their children to Jaipal Singh Munda to fight for their rights,” he added.Earlier in the day, Jharkhand high court stayed the operation of notifications cancelling the appointments of government employees through the 11th and 13th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examinations.The high court also stayed the operation of the order cancelling the appointments of food safety officers.While hearing a bunch of petitions against the government notifications, Justice Deepak Roshan asked the state to furnish its reply by September 15, the next date of hearing.

By the order of the high court, the petitioners as well as other employees selected in the 11th and 13th JPSC exams and adversely affected by the government’s notification will now continue to hold their respective offices.The development came after successful candidates of the 11th and 13th JPSC examinations protested as they were afraid of losing their jobs.The court, however, made it clear that if any foul play is found in the appointment of a candidate during the investigation, the person will have to face the consequences and lose the service.After a 25-day student agitation over alleged irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment exams, the JMM-led government on the night of August 18 cancelled 22 exams and ordered a probe into 23 others conducted since 2014.