Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 9 Sep: The Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) once again finds itself in hot water – this time over the recruitment process for the posts of assistant engineer (AE) in the public works department (PWD).
APPSC Secretary Jayanta Kumar Ray informed that, after the mains examination that had been held on 26 and 27 September, “a candidate came to the office and alleged that there was leakage of the question paper of the exam.”
“After the commission’s approval, the APPSC approached the police and lodged an FIR on 29 August. We are confident that we have conducted the examination in a very transparent manner, and moreover, the allegation has been made only by a single candidate,” he added.
He said that the matter is currently being investigated, “and we are open to it; we are cooperating with them, whatever they are asking. We have responded.”
The candidate who lodged the FIR also submitted a photograph taken with a mobile phone, along with an audio clip, wherein a coaching teacher can be heard telling a candidate that he (the teacher) has the questions with him.
The candidate is heard saying that he would be coming to Ray’s place to take the question paper. When asked by the candidate how the question paper was obtained, the teacher says that he learned about the question paper from “some sources.”
The teacher is also heard saying that the questions he had would be asked in the examination.
The APPSC secretary also informed that the commission has not yet decided on any further course of action.
When asked why the commission always finds itself surrounded by controversies whenever it conducts an exam, the secretary said that “it used be earlier; but of late, a lot of streamlining and restructuring of the system has been done and now no such allegations are coming up.”
“In this particular examination, only one candidate has made the allegation after the conduct of the examination; this has to be investigated properly,” he added.
More than 4,000 candidates wrote the examination for 33 AE posts. Out of them, 415 candidates were selected for the mains examination. Around 407 candidates appeared for the mains, and 99 candidates will be selected for the viva voce.
“The candidates have been selected based on the 1:3 ratio,” informed the secretary.
Meanwhile, the capital police have interrogated four persons in the case, including the complainant, SDPO Kamdam Sikom informed.
“The matter has been sent to the police headquarters in Ganga for further investigation,” he said.
He also informed that the coaching teacher was called back from Uttar Pradesh and is currently in Itanagar.
It is learnt that the matter will be referred to the Special Investigation Cell.
The candidate had earlier told an electronic media channel that he received the questions from his coaching teacher on 24 August. The candidate said that he received five questions, and that the questions were exactly as the teacher had said they would be, “including the punctuation marks.”
“Seeing the exact questions, I got nervous and could not write my examination,” the candidate claimed.
“I am ready to face a defamation suit from the commission if proved wrong,” the candidate added.
