Jharkhand High Court on Friday quashed the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct (Amendment) Rules, 2021, under which only students who have passed Class X and XII exams from the state’s institute are eligible to take part in the recruitment process, prompting chief minister Hemant Soren to hint at filing a review petition in the Supreme Court.

A bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan termed the rules of JSSC unconstitutional and in violation of the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution.

The petitioner had challenged the amendment made to the JSSC rules on the ground that it would prevent many deserving candidates from participating in the recruitment process. The petitioner had also pointed out that Hindi and English had been removed from the language paper, while Urdu, Bangla and Odia languages had been included.

Addressing a rally at Deoghar, as part of the Khatiyani Johar Yatra, Hemant said: “We had made a law to ensure that locals who pass Class 10 and Class 12 from Jharkhandbased institutions will be eligible for graduate-level state government jobs. Was it unjustified? There are similar laws in other states and everything continues smoothly. Unfortunately in Jharkhand, there are vested sections who oppose the move to give rights to locals.”

Responding to demands to link government jobs with 1932 khatiyan (land records), Hemant said: “Don’t worry. We will study the order and take steps to safeguard all your rights in the time to come.”

Sources in the CM secretariat said Supreme Court lawyer Mukul Rohatgi had been asked to start preparations for filing a special leave petition.