CGPSC: Supreme Court Issues Notice to CBI on Former Secretary’s Bail Plea
_439290158.jpg)
The Supreme Court of India on Monday intervened in the high-profile Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CGPSC) recruitment scam, issuing a formal notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the bail plea of former Commission Secretary Jeevan Kishore Dhruv. A three-judge bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Augustine George Masih, and Justice Sandeep Mehta took up the special leave petition filed by Dhruv, who is challenging the August 5 order of the Chhattisgarh High Court that refused him regular bail. The legal proceedings mark a crucial milestone in the ongoing multi-agency probe into alleged systemic irregularities, nepotism, and manipulation of examination scores in the state civil service recruitments conducted between 2020 and 2022.
Three-Week Deadline for Federal Sleuths: Top Court Outlines Bail Hearing Timeline
During Monday’s preliminary hearing, the apex court bench agreed to examine the merits of Dhruv's challenge against the High Court's dismissal, formally directing federal prosecutors representing the CBI to file their counter-affidavit within three weeks. The bench also granted the petitioner one additional week thereafter to file a rejoinder to the agency's reply, scheduling the comprehensive hearing on the matter after four weeks. The judicial direction puts the spotlight squarely on the evidence compiled by central investigators since taking over the sprawling case, requiring the agency to substantiate its grounds for opposing the former bureaucrat’s interim release.
High-Profile Bureaucratic Arrest: Unraveling the 2020–2022 Chhattisgarh PSC Irregularities
Jeevan Kishore Dhruv was arrested by the CBI in September of the previous year while serving in his active capacity as Secretary of the constitutional recruitment body, following allegations of widespread favoritism in grading and candidate selections for top administrative ranks. The state-wide scandal, which triggered widespread protests by civil services aspirants across Raipur and Bilaspur, prompted the state government to transfer the investigation to the central premier agency to probe alleged compromises in answer evaluation, viva-voce score fixing, and procedural violations favoring kin of influential officials. With the Supreme Court seeking the CBI's comprehensive status report, upcoming proceedings are expected to reveal whether custodial detention remains legally indispensable as trial preparations proceed.
_371777076_351x234.jpg)
