RANCHI, India, July 26 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on June 26:
1. The petitioner is a private limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956.
2. The 3rd respondent is the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, the 2nd respondent is the Examination Controller of the said Commission and the 4th respondent is Deputy Secretary of the said Commission.
The background facts
3. The 3rd respondent issued a tender on 16.11.2021 inviting Expression of Interest for selection and empanelment of agencies for conduct and processing of various recruitment examinations which have to be conducted by the 3rd respondent. The petitioner deposited the tender fee and the Earnest Money Deposit on 17.12.2021 and participated in the bidding process.
4. A general agreement dt. 03.01.2022 was executed between the petitioner and the 3rd respondent empanelling the petitioner with the said respondent for three years from 03.01.2022 to 02.01.2025 for conducting assigned examination process.
5. The petitioner was declared as L-1 bidder and subsequently, a Work Order dt. 12.04.2022 was granted in its favour for conducting OMR Based Jharkhand Diploma Level Combined Competitive Examination 2021.
6. The said examination was conducted on 03.07.2022 at 83 examination centres in the State of Jharkhand. The FIR dt.14.7.2022 7. However, there was allegedly a question paper leak which resulted in an F.I.R. Namkum P.S. Case No. 227 of 2022 dt. 14.07.2022 being registered by the Police under Sections 467, 468, 420, 120-B IPC, Section 66 of the Information Technology Act and Section 10 of the Bihar Conduct of Examinations Act, 1981. The show cause notice dt.25.7.2022 8. Annexure 8 is a show-cause notice-cum-suspension letter issued by the 2nd respondent on 25.07.2022 to the petitioner informing the petitioner about the registration of the said F.I.R. on allegations of question paper leakage in the said examination and suspending the empanelment of the petitioner immediately. In the same show-cause notice, petitioner was asked to show cause by 01.08.2022 why it cannot be blacklisted for its connivance in the question paper leakage. Petitioner's reply to the show cause notice 9. On 01.08.2022 the petitioner gave a reply refuting allegations in the show-cause notice. 10. It was contended that the confidential examination material was handed over as per instructions of the 3rd respondent Commission in a secure and sealed cover, that the examination was conducted by the said Commission with supervision and control of the District Administration; and after handing over of the examination material, all forthcoming events and activities till the end of the examination were looked after by the 3rd respondent-officials and the petitioner was nowhere involved in the conduct of examination except with respect to CCTV, Biometric and candidate frisking.
*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=bzPoyUlszYLCUcCpirIpqG4oCeGh1j6QG2zVrUYejmJDxtF6hd06xmqTtczlJtXB&caseno=WPC/1545/2024&cCode=1&cino=JHHC010098592024&state_code=7&appFlag=)
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
