CIVIL SERVICE aspirants dissatisfied with the main exam results went on indefinite dharna outside PSC headquarters in the City on Tuesday. They have accused the Public Service Commission (PSC) and its chairman of alleged discrepancies in the examination process.
Lashing out at PSC chairman Prof Pradeep, the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission Pratiyogi Chhatra Sangh raised doubts over the examination system adopted by the commission.
The allegations have assumed significance since the PSC exams have been conducted after a gap of six years. It is also noteworthy that a case has been admitted by the High Court, which has given till January 4 for PSC to file its reply.
Major allegations include repeating 35 questions (along with mistakes) from the June 2006 issue of a competitive exam preparation magazine — Pratiyogita Darpan, getting invigilators from outside the State and releasing the main examination results in the night and 12 hours later on the Internet.
Talk of question paper bundles missing during transit questioned the working of PSC and its chairman. The aspirants also expressed lack of faith in the present scaling system. The commission is accused of having denied them the right to view their mark sheets, which is permissible under the Right to Information Act (RTI). It was alleged further that candidates of Gwalior-Chambal division had been given low scores.
Sangh regional coordinator Rajendra Sharma said their major demands include cancellation of Main-2003 and holding it again under UPSC supervision, judicial enquiry into corruption in PSC, removal of Joshi and intervention of President A P J Abdul Kalam in this matter.
{{/usCountry}}Sangh regional coordinator Rajendra Sharma said their major demands include cancellation of Main-2003 and holding it again under UPSC supervision, judicial enquiry into corruption in PSC, removal of Joshi and intervention of President A P J Abdul Kalam in this matter.
{{/usCountry}}Deputy secretary Niraml Upadhyaya, who was officiating in Joshi’s absence, replied to the allegations leveled by students. Upadhyay said the entire written examination and valuation process is foolproof and with the onset of computerisation no one knows which set is being sent where.
The system is not as easy as a varsity exam and checks and balances ensure its sanctity. The scaling system has been borrowed from the UPSC setup and has been in place from over 12 years giving it enough time to evolve.
The copies were sent outside the State for checking to bring about greater transparency and avoid examiners being
influenced.
He agreed that some questions were repeated from a magazine but countered that the PSC has nothing to do with paper setup as it is the task of experts who pick questions of their choice from their vast source of knowledge.
A moderator then reviews them before sending it to the PSC in the form of several signed and sealed paper bunches. The papers are picked on the last moment without anyone knowing what it contains.
Questioning the logic behind people of a particular region failing, he asked why would any one take pains to fail students instead of concentrating his energy on passing them.
He rubbished allegation of the GK paper being checked by a Hindi teacher and others of graft including touts asking for money to pass students, and some of those who cleared to be of lesser capability than those who failed as unsubstantiated.
Sangh secretary Yogendra Mishra said about 250 others along with their president Inderveer Singh Rajput would arrive by Intercity Express from Gwalior on Wednesday.