The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday refused to intervene in the row surrounding the Jharkhand Public Service (JPSC) exam cancellation and asked the aggrieved candidates to instead approach the Jharkhand High Court (HC), where the case is already pending.

An SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant made the ruling while hearing a plea filed by candidates who had cleared the JPSC preliminary exam and challenged the state government’s decision to cancel the test. The petitioners had also sought permission to appear in the Jharkhand Judicial Service Main examination, contending that they had qualified the preliminary stage.

SC says HC already seized of matter

During the hearing, the top court noted that the Jharkhand HC had already been considering the dispute and had stayed the exam’s cancellation. The bench observed that, with the HC’s stay in force, currently there was no operative cancellation order requiring intervention by the top court. Consequently, it refused to entertain the plea at this juncture.

The bench remarked, “HC is already dealing with it,” adding that the petitioners may raise their grievances before the Jharkhand HC. It also clarified that the candidates could seek appropriate relief from the HC, which is already hearing proceedings related to the exam cancellation.

Candidates seek relief after qualifying prelims

Notably, the candidates had knocked on the doors of the apex court after qualifying in the JPSC prelims exam. Their plea challenged the Jharkhand government’s decision to cancel the exam and sought protection of their candidature in the recruitment process.

Another of their key demands was that candidates who had cleared the prelims exam should be permitted to take the Jharkhand Judicial Service Main Examination. They contended that having cleared the preliminary stage, they should not be deterred from proceeding to the next stage of recruitment owing to the controversy linked to the examination.

However, the SC declined to independently examine these grievances, directing the candidates to place their concerns before the Jharkhand HC.

HC’s stay on exam cancellation remains key

Earlier, the Jharkhand HC had imposed a stay on the cancellation of the exams, which remains central to the dispute. Since the matter is already pending before it, the SC did not consider it appropriate to separately examine the issues at this stage.

For the exam’s aspirants, the immediate legal remedy is therefore the High Court, where proceedings concerning the examination cancellation are already underway.