Ranchi, Jan 22 : The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday stayed the CBI probe into the case involving students of Dhanbad Institute of Technology (DIT) who were prevented from appearing in examinations, until further orders.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by the state government and the Jharkhand University of Technology (JUT).

The matter has been posted for further hearing on January 29.

During the proceedings, the CBI informed the court that a preliminary inquiry had already been registered in compliance with an earlier High Court order.

Appearing for the state, Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan submitted that DIT was permitted to admit only 60 students on September 9, 2025, but had enrolled as many as 138 students in violation of the prescribed norms.

He argued that despite these violations, the institute approached the High Court seeking relief.

The court was informed that the writ petition filed by DIT was heard on January 12 and 13, following which a single bench on January 13 ordered a CBI probe into the matter.

Challenging this order, the state government and JUT moved an appeal before the division bench of the Jharkhand High Court.

Notably, the single bench had termed the issue of engineering students being barred from examinations as â??serious,â?? observing that it amounted to playing with the future of students.

It had directed a CBI investigation into the roles of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and JUT.

The single bench had also noted that AICTE had approved DITâ??s intake for the academic session 2025-26 on April 30, 2025, yet students were later denied permission to appear in examinations.

Drawing an analogy, the court likened the situation to removing a â??No Entryâ?? sign and then trapping people, and held that the case pointed to serious irregularities rather than a mere administrative lapse.

Under the January 13 order, the CBI had been directed to conduct an investigation and submit a report.

/IANS