Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday cancelled the controversial Sub-Inspector (SI) Recruitment-2021 examination, conducted for 859 posts, after large-scale irregularities and a massive paper leak were exposed.
Delivering the verdict, a single bench of Justice Sameer Jain observed that the leaked paper had spread across the state and even reached organised cheating groups such as the Bluetooth gang. The court highlighted the involvement of six members of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) in the scam, ruling out any possibility of allowing the recruitment to stand.
The bench analysed the scandal in three dimensions: direct involvement of two RPSC members in leaking the paper, the use of a large number of dummy candidates, and the circulation of the leaked paper by gangs led by Jagdish Bishnoi and others. Justice Jain remarked that it was “difficult to separate the right and wrong” in such a tainted process. He further noted that while many aspirants had appeared honestly, even “one dishonest candidate becoming a police station in-charge would be dangerous for law and order.”
The court ordered that all posts from the cancelled 2021 recruitment be merged into the 2025 drive, and all candidates who had applied in the scrapped exam would be eligible to reappear. Petitioner’s lawyer Harendra Neel confirmed that 897 posts will now be included in the upcoming recruitment.
Agriculture Minister Kirori Lal Meena, who had consistently raised the issue, welcomed the verdict and described it as a victory of truth. He alleged that more than 50 per cent of the candidates selected in the exam were fake, adding, “The government only caught 58 fake sub-inspectors, but documents show over 500 candidates cleared the exam through fraud. If such people had entered the police force, law and order would have collapsed.”
The case also revealed the involvement of senior officials. Former RPSC member Ramu Ram Raika, along with his son Devesh Raika and daughter Shobha Raika, were arrested in connection with the scam. While Devesh and Shobha have secured bail, Ramu Ram Raika remains in jail. He was appointed to the RPSC in July 2018 during the Vasundhara Raje government and continued until July 2022.
The High Court’s decision is seen as one of the most significant crackdowns on recruitment scams in Rajasthan, with the aim of restoring public confidence in the state’s examination system.
With IANS inputs