ITANAGAR, Dec 13: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has taken strong exception to the ongoing controversy over the recently held Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Preliminary Examinations conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC).
Terming the matter serious, the union has demanded a ‘proper and thorough’ investigation into the issue.
The union’s members, led by its President Hawa Bagang and General Secretary Tobom Dai, had on 5 December called on members of the APPSC, held a threadbare discussion on the controversy, and placed the grievances of the aggrieved students before the Commission.
According to the AAPSU, the APPSC acknowledged certain anomalies in the question paper. It also informed the visiting team that an expert committee has been constituted by the Commission to look into the complaints of the aspirants.
The AAPSU said that the Commission urged the union to wait until the committee’s report is submitted.
‘Since the matter is very serious in nature and requires in-depth analysis by subject experts, the AAPSU has decided to wait for the report of the expert committee,’ it stated in a release on Wednesday.
Seeking to allay aggrieved commentators on various forums against the union, the AAPSU appealed to the students, especially the aspirants, to have faith in the apex students’ body.
‘The union has been rigorously pursuing the matter with the authorities concerned from the moment the controversy surfaced,’ the AAPSU said.
AAPSU General Secretary Tobom Dai stated that various groups have been approaching the union.
‘While one group is demanding re-conduct of the examination, another group is for its continuance,’ he said. ‘There are also some groups that are demanding re-conduct of the examination only for those papers in which major errors were detected.’
The AAPSU said that the APPSC, which has been facing shortage of infrastructure, human resources, technical staff, etc, has been regularly mired in controversies over the past few years.
It said the state government should take some serious measures, ‘or else there may be similar controversies in the near future.’
The AAPSU also urged the APPSC to direct the expert committee to submit its report at the earliest, so that the yearly examination calendar is not affected.
