RANCHI: Hours after the Jharkhand government cancelled the JSSC-CGL examination, government employees appointed through the recruitment process staged protests on Tuesday, questioning the decision and demanding an opportunity to present their side.One such protester Chanda Kumari told PTI that thousands of candidates who had already secured appointments had been affected by the cancellation and questioned whether scrapping the examination would ensure justice.“Our judiciary and democracy function on the principle that even if 100 guilty people go free, one innocent person should not be punished. But with the government’s decision, thousands of innocent people have been punished immediately,” she said.Kumari questioned whether cancelling the examination was the right way to address the alleged irregularities and whether it would ensure action against those actually responsible.“For the past 24 days, the government has heard only one side and has not given the other side an opportunity to present its case,” she said, adding that the appointed employees were now putting forward their concerns through the media.The state government announced the cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination and other exams conducted by TDPL during early hours of Tuesday.It took the decision at a special Cabinet meeting after considering the concerns raised by protesting students, chief minister Hemant Soren said.The government also announced the cancellation of the 14th JPSC examination and backlog examinations, while the Jharkhand CID has begun investigating alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations.Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto ended his 16-day hunger strike after the decision.He called the cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination a “huge victory for Jharkhand” but said his struggle for reforms would continue.The government has also announced measures aimed at making recruitment examinations more transparent, including a time-bound annual examination calendar, technology-secured exams, timely publication of answer keys and OMR sheets, and multi-level accountability.
