The Gujarat government has indefinitely postponed a clerk recruitment exam, to be held on February 13, citing administrative reasons. This is for the third time since 2019 that the written exam for the recruitment of class III non-secretariat clerks and secretariat service office assistants in the state government has not been conducted for different reasons.

In a public notice on Wednesday night, February 9, the Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB) announced that the exam, scheduled on February 13, has been postponed for the time being and new dates will be announced soon. As per government data, nearly six lakh candidates had registered themselves for the recruitment of nearly 3,500 posts of clerks and office assistants.

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The recruitment test was first cancelled by the GSSSB in October 2019, citing changes in the eligibility criteria by the General Administration Department (GAD) at that time.

When the advertisement for the recruitment was issued, the Board had announced that candidates who have passed Class XII can appear for the exam. But just before the exam date, the GAD had changed the criteria and said only graduates could appear.

After a huge uproar, the state government had cancelled the exam and announced that those who have passed Class XII can also appear for the written test.

Later, the recruitment exam was conducted on November 17, 2019. However, it was cancelled in December 2019 again after allegations of paper leak.

The decision to cancel the already conducted exam had been taken after a special investigation team formed by the state government found substance in the allegations of paper leak.