Yet another setback for the state government. This time the Jharkhand High Court on Friday (August 21, 2026) has stayed the notifications cancelling the appointments of Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) and those recruited through the JSSC-CGL examination.

Earlier, the Jharkhand High Court court had on Wednesday (August 19) stayed the notifications cancelling the 11th and 13th Jharkhand PSC exams.

Today, August 21, the high court stayed operation of the notification cancelling recruitments through Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission-Combined Graduate Level examination (JSSC-CGL), besides the one cancelling the appointments of CDPOs," PTI quotes petitioner's counsel Indrajit Sinha as saying.

Hearing petitions challenging the government’s decision, Justice Deepak Roshan’s court directed the state government and the JPSC to file detailed responses by September 7th. 

The petitioners argued before the court that the government’s decision to abruptly cancel the advertisements and appointments was not in accordance with the prescribed rules.

The court has scheduled the next hearing in the matter for September 15th. The High Court had, a day earlier, also imposed an interim stay on the state government’s order cancelling JPSC appointments. 

Student organisations, which had staged a 26-day agitation demanding cancellation of the examinations, have alleged that the government issued the decision without proper legal consultation and that the order could not withstand judicial scrutiny.

The organisations have described the development as a breach of the government’s assurances to lakhs of young aspirants in the state and have announced statewide protests today. 

Notably, following the students’ agitation, the state government had on August 17 issued a notification cancelling 22 examinations and ordering investigations into several others. The government’s decisions are now being challenged before the High Court.

Amid a 25-day agitation over alleged recruitment irregularities, the JMM-led government on August 18 cancelled 22 exams and ordered a probe into 23 others conducted since 2014.