The Jharkhand government and protesting students have reached an agreement on several key demands related to recruitment examinations and alleged irregularities.
The government has agreed to cancel the ACF examination and the 14th JPSC Preliminary Examination (PT). The JSSC CGL examination, however, will not be cancelled, and no other examinations will be cancelled.
The FRO examination will be investigated, and it will be cancelled if any irregularities are found. All recruitment examinations conducted by the TDPL agency will also be investigated, with the concerned examination to be cancelled if irregularities are detected.
The government has accepted the demand for reforms in the JPSC and JSSC. A committee will be constituted to recommend reforms in both commissions.
A CID investigation will also be conducted into alleged examination irregularities. If any case related to a financial scam emerges during the investigation, the government has agreed to refer it to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
However, there will be no CBI investigation.
All three members of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission — Ajita Bhattacharya, Jameel Ahmed and Anima Hansda — have resigned.
Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar has accepted their resignations.
The resignations came after the CID summoned the three JPSC members for questioning. The CID is investigating alleged irregularities in examinations conducted by the commission, and the members were summoned for questioning on Monday. Their resignations came before the scheduled questioning.
Student leaders said they would march to the Jharkhand Assembly on August 10 and maintained that they were “not ready for compromise” without a CBI probe.
Jharkhand Minister Sudivya Kumar Sonu said the government had held three days of discussions with the protesting aspirants and carried out extensive consultations before deciding to address alleged irregularities linked to the 14th JPSC examination and the 2023-25 backlog recruitments.
“Following three days of talks and extensive consultations, and acting on the instructions of CM Hemant Soren, the government decided to address the irregularities associated with the 14th JPSC and the 2023-25 backlog recruitments through a two-pronged approach,” Sonu said, according to news agency ANI.
He said the CID would investigate the criminal aspects of the matter, while an ED probe would be sought in view of the alleged financial implications and evidence of illicit financial transactions.
