In a major ruling, the Odisha High Court on Friday, May 19, scrapped the previous merit list of the Assistant Section Officer (ASO) 2022 recruitment exam and directed the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) to prepare a fresh list within two months. The order follows a batch of petitions filed by about 20 candidates alleging gross irregularities in the exam.
According to news reports, the bone of contention revolves around a new "qualification mark rule" which the OPSC introduced in 2022. This criterion required candidates to score qualifying marks per subject, instead of the previous requirement of scoring cumulative qualifying marks. Students alleged that this new rule was not mentioned during the application process, and brought up after the written exams were conducted.
Additionally, "The question paper seemed unusually difficult this time, almost on par with the Civil Services Exam question paper. There were also cases of absent candidates' names appearing on the merit list. Instances of favouritism and corruption were also heard of," said Subhranshu Mishra, one of the candidates who appeared in the exam last year.
The ASO exam was conducted on August 27 and the results were published on November 7, after which the petitions against OPSC were filed. A protest was also staged in front of the Secretariat. On November 14, the High Court directed the Commission to publish the marks of the candidates after the recruitment process was completed. It may be mentioned here that the Computer Skill Test which comes next after the written exam was rescheduled to December due to these complications.
Taking to Twitter about the present High Court ruling, some candidates have expressed ire. "But it's not enough, There has to be an enquiry why all these things happen why rules have been tampered who has to be given favour (sic)," writes Abhijit Narayan Das, an aspirant. "A proper investigation should be done. Remove all those scraps from the department," writes Sangram, another candidate.
Many students are asking for a re-exam, as the criteria based on which the fresh merit will be prepared remains unclear. "The court's order will be of no use unless the examination process becomes more transparent. As of now, there is no cut-off and the selection criteria are not well-defined. The individual marks are not published; only a merit list is brought out after the exam. The process invites irregularities," Subhranshu said.
The candidates advocate for the exam to be conducted in the CBT (Computer Based Test) mode. "Digitisation of the process and a paperless exam will rule out possibilities of corrupt practices to the maximum extent," Subhranshu stated.
