New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the state government on a plea seeking an independent, time-bound probe by the CBI into alleged malpractices in the Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Preliminary Examination.  A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought a response from the Union of India, the Jharkhand government, the Jharkhand Public Service Commission, CBI and others.   Senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the plea seeks a CBI inquiry or an inquiry by a former judge of this court.   The top court was hearing a petition filed by activist Harisharan Devgan, through advocate Satyam Singh Rajput.  "The present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India is being preferred in public interest seeking urgent intervention of this court in relation to serious and substantial concerns regarding the integrity, fairness, transparency and credibility of the Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Preliminary Competitive Examination 2025, conducted by respondent no. 2 Jharkhand Public Service Commission pursuant to Advertisement No. 01/2026 on April 19, 2026," it said.   The plea has also sought transfer of the investigation from the state CID to the CBI to ensure an impartial probe into public officials and examination agencies.

The petitioner submitted that the controversy cannot appropriately be examined merely as a dispute concerning individual candidates or isolated instances of alleged malpractice. "The allegations require examination of the entire examination chain, including preparation and printing of question papers, coding, storage, transportation, distribution, conduct of the examination, collection and custody of OMR sheets, scanning, coding and decoding, evaluation, storage and access to electronic examination data, generation of the result and publication thereof," it said.   It has also sought direction to immediately secure all physical and digital evidence, including original and candidate-held OMR carbon copies, CCTV footage, and server audit logs, to prevent tampering.   "The petitioner is conscious that the mere existence of allegations or public protests cannot, by itself, justify cancellation of an examination. The petitioner, therefore, does not seek cancellation merely on the basis of media reports or allegations "The principal relief sought is for an independent, impartial, comprehensive and time-bound investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, so that the nature, extent, mechanism and impact of the alleged irregularities may be objectively determined," it said. The petition said the consequential question: Whether the preliminary examination can safely be relied upon? must be determined based on objective and scientifically verifiable evidence. The petitioner said he raises a constitutional question concerning whether a public recruitment examination conducted by a constitutional authority has retained the minimum degree of fairness, transparency, reliability and institutional integrity necessary for its result to constitute the lawful basis for public appointments. Agencies