Jharkhand High Court imposes cost of Rs 1 lakh on JPSC over rejection of candidature

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the state’s public service commission, while dismissing an appeal filed by it against a candidate for appointment to the post of assistant professor.

Manoj Kumar Kachhap had filed a petition before the single bench of the high court, stating that he was a candidate and had applied for the post of assistant professor in 2018.

Kachhap was accepted as a candidate, and appeared for the exams after scrutiny of his documents by the commission. But at the time of his interview, it was revealed to him that the fees deposited for the examination was not credited in the account of the commission, and therefore, his candidature could not be considered, according to the petition.

Kachhap told the court that the money deposited by him as fees to the commission was never reverted back to his account. The commission did not inform him before the interview that the money deposited by him had not been credited in its account, the petition said.

A single-judge bench of the high court had earlier allowed the petition and directed the commission to consider his candidature. The order was challenged before the division bench of the high court by the commission.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao upheld the earlier order, and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the commission to be paid to Kachhap within eight weeks. In another matter, the high court imposed a cost of Rs 8,000 on former chief minister Madhu Koda for seeking adjournment in a case for the fourth time.