The first day of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination 2025 Tier-I, held on Friday, September 12, was marred by disruptions after tests were cancelled at several centres due to technical and administrative issues.
The Commission clarified that new dates have been allotted to affected candidates, ensuring they do not lose their attempt.
The SSC CGL is one of the largest recruitment exams in the country, attracting lakhs of aspirants every year, making Friday’s cancellations a major setback.
Chaos at Gurugram centre
At M M Public School in Sector 4, Gurugram, candidates were caught off guard when they arrived to find their exam had been cancelled.
The situation quickly escalated, with angry aspirants damaging the school gate and raising slogans over alleged mismanagement, as per a report by The Times of India.
Police were called to the scene to control the crowd.
“The exam has been cancelled due to technical problems in the SSC server. While the server began functioning again after the first shift, candidates from that shift caused a disturbance and prevented the second shift examinees from entering the venue. The police were called to restore order,” said centre head Manoj Gupta, according to PTI.
A senior police officer confirmed that no formal complaints were lodged by the school management following the incident.
Centres affected in Delhi and Jammu
Apart from Gurugram, examinations at Bharti Vidya Niketan Public School in Delhi were also cancelled due to administrative reasons. Candidates from these centres will now take the exam on September 24, 25, and 26, 2025.
In Jammu, technical glitches disrupted the exam at Digital Computer Education, with the rescheduled date fixed for September 26, 2025,
SSC Chairman responds
SSC Chairman S Gopalkrishnan told a media house that the examination was successfully conducted at 227 centres, but disruptions were reported at 12 locations, added TOI.
He attributed the issues to outdated devices and last-minute technical failures, which forced the Commission to drop the centre entirely.
“New centres in Delhi-NCR will be allotted within 10 days, with particular reference to the MM centre in Gurugram,” he assured.
On Jammu, he said that “only minor technical problems were observed” and noted that new features added to the exam process sometimes lead to such errors.
Gopalkrishnan also clarified that “only the Staff Selection Commission has the authority to announce cancellations, not individual centres,” and emphasised that the Commission was committed to ensuring fair conduct of exams while holding local managements accountable for lapses caused by “outdated networks, switches, and systems.”
Recurring issues and student concerns
This latest disruption comes on the heels of similar complaints during the Selection Post Phase 13 recruitment test (July 24 – August 1, 2025), which saw abrupt cancellations, software crashes, biometric verification failures, and incorrect centre allotments.
In response, thousands of aspirants and educators had staged protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and CGO Complex, demanding accountability, vendor reviews, and an independent inquiry into repeated examination lapses.
