Cautioning that recruitment exams directly impact “shaping the future generation,” the Jharkhand High Court has directed the State CID to file an FIR into alleged malpractice during the secondary school teacher selection process.The high court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking directions to the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission to show cause why the response keys of the petitioners have not been released, while response keys of other candidates have been made available. They claimed that the authority has deprived the petitioners of the opportunity to raise objections against the provisional answer key. Justice Deepak Roshan held that the successful candidates would go on to teach future generations, some of whom may later hold important private, public or constitutional positions, and therefore said it was in everyone’s interest that those responsible for compromising the examination process be brought to justice.The court also questioned why the commission had not lodged an FIR despite the admitted malpractice and directed the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand to forthwith lodge an FIR before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against unknown culprits who had “soiled the purity of the selection process”.“Given the role of examination in shaping the future generation of the country, and the fact that the successful candidates would be imparting education to our future generations who may be adorning important private or public or constitutional posts, it is in the interest of one and all that the culprits are put to justice,” the August 29 order read. ‘No FIR, re-examination’The examination for both papers of the exam, Paper-I as well as Paper-II, was conducted on various dates between 15 January and 22 February. Paper-I was a qualifying exam, and Paper-II was material for the determination of merit. Justice Deepak Roshan directed the Chief Secretary to forthwith lodge an FIR before the CID against unknown culprits who had “soiled the purity of the selection process”.The court noted that the authorities had informed the petitioners about suspicious activities and instances of unauthorised multiple logins during the examination process, including alleged unauthorised access and malpractice.Story continues below this adSubsequently, on April 15, the commission issued the final answer key after considering candidates’ objections to the provisional answer key. However, the petitioners said they were prohibited from accessing their response/answer keys and the final answer key published by the commission.Later, on April 23, 2026, the commission published a list of 2,819 candidates whose Paper-II examination was to be conducted again on May 8, citing suspicious activity, unauthorised access and technical errors.The affected candidates approached the high court challenging the re-examination. However, on May 7, the division bench declined to stay the re-examination. The re-examination subsequently took place. According to the commission’s figures, 2,355 candidates appeared and 482 were absent, taking the total to 2,837—18 more than the 2,819 candidates originally listed for re-examination. The court noted that the commission’s explanation for this discrepancy was not supported by its pleadings or the documents placed on record. Story continues below this adArguments The petitioners, through one of their advocates, Rupesh Singh, argued that in the garb of conducting the examination of 2819 candidates, the commission has illegally included 18 more candidates to appear in re-examination. They urged that there may be systemic flaws in the conduct of the examination and that a more thorough process needs to be put in place to investigate the alleged illegality. The petitioners argued that if criminal investigation is not conducted, not only would the real culprits go scot-free, but it would further embolden the offenders to indulge in further attempts in future examinations, jeopardising the recruitment process in the state. The state was represented by advocate Sanjoy Piprawall in the matter, ‘Faith of innocent meritorious candidates’The court concluded that it would not be in the interest of justice to halt the recruitment process, particularly since the candidates had already appeared in the re-examination pursuant to the division bench’s earlier order.However, the court stressed that a thorough and fair investigation was necessary to identify the actual culprits, both to protect innocent candidates and to maintain confidence in the examination system.Story continues below this ad“This would not only repose the faith of the innocent meritorious candidates in the examination system and the judiciary but also act as a deterrent to the offenders,” it observed. The court found that the commission’s decision to conduct the re-examination of 2,819 candidates had been based on a report/information furnished by the contractor agency engaged to conduct the online examination at the relevant centres in Ranchi.“Such an action by the respondent commission solely on the basis of the report of the Contractor agency amounts to being ‘Judge of his own cause’,” it added. It added that no one can be the judge of his own cause and that justice should not only be done but should also appear to have been done. Story continues below this adIt was also found that the commission is avoiding institution of criminal prosecution to protect the actual culprits, who may be their own officers/employees or the agency contracted or ordered for conducting the examination and/or the concerned computer centres which were nominated as examination centres. The court concluded that CID will conduct a fair and speedy investigation and bring the offenders before the law and put them to trial and held that the appointments, if any, given by the commission, should be made subject to the criminal investigation and its conclusion. The court also directed the JSSC to, within two weeks, issue, communicate and release the marks of all the candidates whose roll numbers are reflected in the list of 2819 candidates and who were asked to appear in re-examination.Also Read | ‘Major’ fraud: Punjab and Haryana High Court denies bail to man who posed as Army officer, cheated woman of Rs 4 lakh The authority was also asked to undertake any departmental action in the matter against those who are found and/or involved in undermining the purity of the examination for appointment of secondary school teachers for classes 9 to 12.