Following students’ protests, the Jharkhand government late on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) announced the cancellation of 22 recruitment exams citing complaints of irregularities and “facts brought before the government during the CID investigation”.
JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch, which has been sitting on a protest at the Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium since July 25, announced suspension of the agitation for two months after the decision.
The government said the cancelled exams include those conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and outsourced agency TSR Data Processing Private Limited (TDPL) since 2014.
The scrapped exams include the 11th to 13th JPSC exams, as well as the CDPO and JSSC-CGL examinations. Besides these, six examinations have been postponed, followed by a CID probe. Another 17 examinations will be investigated by the agency, taking the number of exams under lens to 23.
The State government said it will urge the High Court to constitute a fast-track court for the trial of cases regarding irregularities and misconduct in JPSC and JSSC.
“A need for examination reforms has arisen in light of facts brought before the government and suggestions received through various channels during the course of CID/SIT investigations into complaints regarding irregularities in current and past examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission,” the government said.
“An Internal Monitoring Cell will be constituted within JPSC/JSSC and a committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of Amitabh Kaushal (IAS) to conduct a comprehensive study on examination reforms within JPSC/JSSC,” it added.
The committee will include other officials and the director of a reputed institution as members, and will submit its report to the government within two months.
Examinations for Non-Teaching Posts in Universities of Jharkhand (2025), Assistant Director/Senior Scientific Officer (2025), Drug Inspector (2025), Assistant Professor in Government Engineering colleges (Backlog-2026), Lecturer in Government Polytechnic/Government Women’s Polytechnic (Backlog -2026), and Assistant Professor in Medical Colleges (Super Specialist) Department (2026) have been cancelled.
The government cancelled recruitment for Civil Judge (Junior Division -2023), Assistant Conservator of Forest (2024), Forest Range Officer (2024), Assistant Public Prosecutor (Backlog -2025), Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Examination (2026), and Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Examination (Backlog 2023).
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The recruitment of Food Safety Officer (2023), Child Development Project Officer (2023), and Combined Civil Services Examination has also been scrapped.
Of the six, the recruitment exam work that has been postponed till further notice includes the Boiler Inspector (2025) and Inspector of Factories. The recruitment exams handed over to the CID for investigation include the 5th Combined Civil Services (2013), Civil Judge (Junior Division-2015), Soil Conservation Officer (2015), and Food Safety Officer (2016).
The government has issued eight notifications listing the various TDPL-held exams that have been cancelled. It has cancelled the results of examinations where the preliminary work was done by an agency other than TDPL.
The government, after a Cabinet meeting on Monday, announced the cancellation of the JSSC-Combined Graduate Level (CGL) examination, one of the key demands of protesting students, as well as all examinations conducted by the outsourced agency TDPL and the results it published. The demand for a CBI inquiry is still pending.
JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch clarified that “the movement has not been terminated”. “If our remaining demands are not met within two months, we will resume the movement... Some demands are still pending, for which the government has assured to fulfill within two months.”
In a related development, the successful candidates of JSSC-CGL continued their protest for the third consecutive day outside the Secretariat demanding withdrawal of the notification.
Published - August 19, 2026 01:16 am IST
Jharkhand protest / Jharkhand / demonstration / test/examination
Source: The Hindu - India News
