Cuttack: In a relief to 58 candidates aspiring for junior engineer (civil) posts, the Orissa High Court has quashed the Odisha Staff Selection Commission’s (OSSC) order imposing a six-year debarment from appearing in any of its examinations.
The court deemed the punishment “not just and proper” and disproportionate to the alleged misconduct related to a suspected question paper leak in 2023.
Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy delivered the verdict on January 20 while hearing a batch of 29 writ petitions challenging the OSSC’s May 12, 2025, order. The impugned order had barred the candidates from July 16, 2023, to July 15, 2029, and cancelled their candidatures in all exams applied for during this period.
The controversy stemmed from the recruitment drive for 1,008 junior engineer (civil) posts, advertised on November 2, 2022. The preliminary examination was conducted on June 4, 2023, followed by the main written exam on July 16, 2023. On the same day, the OSSC lodged a police complaint at Sahadevkhunta police station in Balasore after suspicions of a question paper leak surfaced. Following a report from the district SP confirming the leak, the exam was cancelled and rescheduled to September 3, 2023.
Final results were declared on November 4, 2023, after certificate verification, but the results of 58 candidates were withheld. Subsequently, the OSSC imposed the debarment, alleging their involvement in the leak.
The court highlighted that the petitioners “have not yet been charge-sheeted and no material has been found against them as yet” in the ongoing criminal investigation.
Justice Satapathy ruled that the debarment was disproportionate, quashing the order and granting the candidates liberty to participate in future OSSC examinations. However, the judge added a caveat: the debarment order would “stand automatically revived” if any of the petitioners is charge-sheeted upon completion of the investigation.
Considering that the criminal investigation is still open, the court also declined to order immediate publication of the petitioners’ results. Instead, it ordered that the results of those who took the examination on September 3, 2023, be published if they are not charge-sheeted upon completion of the investigation by June 2026. Successful candidates would then be entitled to consequential appointments.
