New Delhi [India], August 24 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, the Jharkhand government and others on a PIL seeking a CBI or an independent probe into the alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2025.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought a response from the state governments on a plea filed by social worker Harisharan Devgan.
Senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that the students had been continuously protesting over the alleged irregularities in the examination.
During the hearing, the CJI sought clarification on the examinations referred to in the petition.
"Multiple examinations?" the CJI asked. Mishra clarified that the matter concerned the Jharkhand Public Service Commission examination, while also referring to the Staff Selection examination.
Mishra urged the apex court to order either a CBI investigation or an inquiry by a former Supreme Court judge.
The CJI, however, observed that the allegations required an investigation rather than an inquiry by a retired judge, particularly since forensic examination and other investigative steps could be necessary.
"How can a former judge...? These are not inquiries. This is an investigation. There is forensic examination required or something else. All these things can be done by an agency," the CJI said.
The plea through advocate Satyam Singh Rajput sought cancellation of the examination and sought a fresh exam, alleging serious irregularities in the conduct and evaluation of the exam.
"The petition seeks an independent, impartial, comprehensive and time-bound investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities surrounding the examination conducted by JPSC on April 19, 2026, also referred to as the 14th JPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination," the PIL stated.
The plea comes against the backdrop of controversy following the declaration of the preliminary examination results on July 2, 2026. According to the petition, a carbon copy of the OMR answer sheet of a successful candidate subsequently went viral, triggering allegations regarding the evaluation process.
The petitioner claimed that the candidate was shown as qualified despite having allegedly attempted only 48 of the 100 questions in Paper I.
Apart from a CBI investigation, the plea sought constitution of an independent committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice/Judge of a High Court from outside Jharkhand.
The proposed committee would include experts in forensic science, information technology, examination security, OMR evaluation, cybersecurity and public administration, said the plea.
The petitioner has also sought independent audits of the OMR scanning, coding, evaluation and result-generation systems, and a determination as to whether candidates allegedly affected by irregularities can be objectively separated into "tainted" and "untainted" categories.
The plea further sought directions to JPSC, government authorities and all agencies, contractors, service providers and examination-centre personnel involved in the process to preserve all physical and electronic examination records.
These records, according to the petition, should include original OMR sheets, candidate carbon copies, question papers, answer keys, attendance sheets, biometric records, CCTV footage, dispatch registers, examination-centre reports, scanning records, evaluation data and result-generation data, among other connected documents.
The petitioner has urged the Supreme Court to order a fresh preliminary examination under safeguards approved by the Court.
The Jharkhand High Court on August 20 stayed the State government order cancelling the appointment of government employees recruited through the 11th to 13th JPSC examinations.
On August 18, the Jharkhand government had issued a notification, cancelling 22 recruitment examinations, including the 11th to 13th JPSC examinations, after weeks of public protest about alleged irregularities.
The court's order came while hearing various petitions filed by the newly appointed officers against the government's decision. (ANI)
SC issues notice on plea seeking CBI probe in JPSC Civil Services Prelims
