HC quashes JPSC’s 6th civil services examination merit list

In a major embarrassment to the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC), the high court (HC) on Monday quashed merit list of the 6th civil services examination, through which 326 successful candidates were appointed against different cadre positions, due to erroneous addition of marks.

The bench of justice SK Dwivedi declared the final list of successful candidates as null and void, and directed the commission to issue a fresh merit list after making the required corrections within eight weeks. It also directed the state government to make cadre allocation of the successful candidates as per the new revised list within next four weeks.

The bench found that the JPSC committed grave error by adding the marks obtained by candidates in mains qualifying papers (Hindi and English) to prepare the final merit list. “This was done against the prevailing rules,” the bench observed.

The JPSC, in October, 2016, floated an advertisement to hold 6th civil services examination to recruit 326 candidates for different cadre jobs in the state government. The examination was conducted in three stages--preliminary, mains and viva voce. Based on the marks obtained by the candidates in mains and viva voce examinations, it published a final merit list of 326 successful candidates on April 23 last year. These candidates have joined service in different cadre posts.

“The judgment is likely to impact the fate of candidates who have already joined the service. The new merit list will change the result, as there are chances that some candidates, who earlier qualified the exams, may not get through this time. There are also chances that cadres of some successful candidates may change after the new merit list is published,” said senior advocate Ajit Kumar, who pleaded the case on behalf of some petitioners.

The matter came before the court in the form of 16 different petitions filed by many unsuccessful candidates, challenging the results on different grounds. The court, however, dismissed all these petitions, except the one filed by one Dilip Kumar Singh, pointing out the aforesaid error committed in preparation of the merit list.

Earlier in February this year, the bench heard all the petitions at length and kept its order reserved.

Pronouncing the judgment on Monday, the bench said the JPSC should fix responsibility on officials responsible for commission of this grave mistake. “Action should be taken against these officials to pre-empt recurrence of such flaws in future,” the bench said.

EOM

BOXES/POINTERS

Total number of vacancies in different cadres--326

Jharkhand Administrative Service: 143

Jharkhand Finance Service: 104

Jharkhand Education Service: 36

Jharkhand Planning Service: 18

Jharkhand Cooperative Service: 09

Jharkhand Information Service: 07

Jharkhand Police Service: 06

Jharkhand Social Security Service: 03

Events related to the examination

October 4, 2016: JPSC published advertisement for 6th civil services examination

December 18, 2016: PT exam held

February 23, 2017: PT result declared in which 5138 candidates qualified for mains examination

August 11, 2017: Following high court’s order a revised PT result came in which 6103 candidates qualified

January 23, 2018: Controversy surrounding the JPSC result was raised in Jharkhand assembly

January 25, 2018: Govt asked JPSC to postpone the mains exam scheduled from January 29, 2018

January 27, 2018: JPSC postponed mains examination

February 7, 2018: State cabinet granted approval for publication of a revised PT result after reducing the cut-off marks

August 6, 2018: JPSC published a revised PT result in which 34,634 candidates qualified for mains examination

February 28, 2019: Mains examination commenced

February 15, 2020: Mains result announced, 990 candidates qualified for interview

February 24-March 6, 2020: Viva-voce held

April 21, 2020: Final merit list published in which 326 selected