Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Dec 15: The Arunachal Public Service Commission (APPSC), in an order issued on Friday, cancelled the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Preliminary Examination-2017, which was held on 26 November last.
The candidates who had appeared for the preliminary examinations would be eligible to sit in the examinations to be held afresh on the basis of admit cards already issued to them.
However, the APPSC did not set a date and said that the examinations would be held “within a reasonable time”.
Speaking to this daily, students who had been demanding fresh examinations said that this was fulfilment of only one of their demands and that there is no guarantee that the same errors would not be repeated in the future.
One of the candidates, Bengia Taja said that the candidates have other demands, which include action against officials responsible for the error-filled question papers and a set yearly calendar for the examinations.
They also demanded that the Commission provide information on those responsible for setting the question paper.
“If the APPSC outsourced the work of setting the question papers, then we demand that the company’s name be made public. If it was not outsourced, then the staffers responsible for setting the papers should be held responsible and appropriate action should be initiated”, Bengia said.
Other important demands include proper moderation and introduction of scaling process to avoid future complicacies.
On concerns raised by some candidates that it was unfair to hold fresh examinations, Bengia explained that they should also consider that it was an injustice to thousands others.
He also informed that the candidates would hold a peace rally on Tuesday. They would march from Indira Gandhi Park to the APPSC office and place a new memorandum to the Commision.
Officials of the APPSC could not be contacted by this daily for a statement on the issue.
The preliminary examinations were held on 26 November last, wherein candidates found several anomalies in the General Studies paper and other option subject papers, such as Sociology, Public Administration, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and Indian History.
The students gathered to start a movement against the callous attitude of the Commission, which was supported by students’ organisations like the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union and the People’s Party of Arunachal, who met with the Commission members to bring an amicable solution to the fiasco.
