In a relief to 65 candidates who had cleared the preliminary exam of the Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination-2012, but were later left out by just one mark after the revised result, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday also allowed them to appear in the main exam to be conducted from June 22 onwards.
The Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) had declared the revised result on May 4 after the court's directions. The court had on May 1 directed the PPSC to correct the answer key of question No 36 of paper-II and re-evaluate optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets of all candidates.
The directions came from the court of justice Augustine George Masih on a petition filed by Surinder Pal of Hoshiarpur and others through advocate DS Patwalia. The petitioners had requested the court to also allow them to appear in the main examination.
The high court had on December 21 last year stayed further selection process for filling 160 different posts after finding that as per the petitioners' allegations, "prima facie" it appeared that the matter may have to be referred to the "expert committee".
It was on September 14, 2012, that the PPSC had advertised 160 posts for which the preliminary exam was held on November 25. But after the PPSC issued the merit list on December 7 on its website, the unsuccessful candidates had approached the high court, alleging discrepancies in questions and answer keys, after which the high court had stayed further selection process on December 21. The high court had on May 1 directed the PPSC to revise the result and correct the answer key for one question, after which the commission had declared the revised result on May 4, in which 65 candidates who had earlier cleared the preliminary exam were left out just short of one mark from the cut-off percentage.
{{/usCountry}}It was on September 14, 2012, that the PPSC had advertised 160 posts for which the preliminary exam was held on November 25. But after the PPSC issued the merit list on December 7 on its website, the unsuccessful candidates had approached the high court, alleging discrepancies in questions and answer keys, after which the high court had stayed further selection process on December 21. The high court had on May 1 directed the PPSC to revise the result and correct the answer key for one question, after which the commission had declared the revised result on May 4, in which 65 candidates who had earlier cleared the preliminary exam were left out just short of one mark from the cut-off percentage.
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