The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking an independent, time-bound probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into alleged malpractices in the Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Preliminary Examination. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana is likely to take up the petition, filed by activist Harisharan Devgan through advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, as reported by The Economic Times, The New Indian Express, and ThePrint.
The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India in public interest, raises "serious and substantial concerns regarding the integrity, fairness, transparency and credibility" of the Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Preliminary Competitive Examination–2025, conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission pursuant to Advertisement No. 01/2026 on April 19, 2026, according to the petition text quoted by the three outlets.
Petition details
The plea seeks the transfer of the investigation from the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the CBI to ensure an impartial probe into public officials and examination agencies, as outlined in the petition.
Highlighting the broader scope of the alleged irregularities, the petition states that the controversy "cannot appropriately be examined merely as a dispute concerning individual candidates or isolated instances of alleged malpractice." Instead, it argues that the allegations require examination of the entire examination chain, "including preparation and printing of question papers, coding, storage, transportation, distribution, conduct of the examination, collection and custody of OMR sheets, scanning, coding and decoding, evaluation, storage and access to electronic examination data, generation of the result and publication thereof."
The petition also seeks directions to immediately secure all physical and digital evidence, including original and candidate-held OMR carbon copies, CCTV footage, and server audit logs, to prevent tampering.
Notably, the petitioner acknowledges that "the mere existence of allegations or public protests cannot, by itself, justify cancellation of an examination," and therefore does not seek cancellation based solely on media reports or allegations, as reported by the three sources.
The petition raises a constitutional question about whether a public recruitment examination conducted by a constitutional authority has retained the minimum degree of fairness, transparency, reliability, and institutional integrity necessary for its result to constitute the lawful basis for public appointments.
Background
The Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Preliminary Examination is conducted annually by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission to screen candidates for various state civil services posts. The controversy surrounding the 2025 examination has drawn attention to the integrity of the recruitment process.
The court is expected to consider the plea during the listed hearing on August 24. The outcome of the hearing could determine the course of the investigation into the alleged irregularities.