Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) Admits Mistakes In Question Papers

GUWAHATI: It seems that the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) has refused to learn anything from its notorious cash-for-job scam. The Commission had committed 94 mistakes in the ‘Answer Keys’ of 21 subjects in the Combined Competitive Examination (Prelims), 2018, the results of which were announced recently.

On March 13 this year, the APSC had declared the names of 3,361 candidates who could qualify for the Mains of the Combined Competitive Examination, 2018 despite the fact that they were evaluated on the basis of wrong Answer Keys (inaccurate answers). The irregularities in the exam results of the APSC came to light after the Answer Keys were acquired through RTI.

Even though the Assam Public Service Commission did a damage control exercise by announcing a list of another 406 candidates who were initially left out, the Commission is yet to come up with a convincing reply on the issue of its goof-up in the evaluation.

Acting chairman of APSC, Deepak Kumar Sarma told reporters here on Thursday that the Commission is not going to touch the 3,361 candidates who had made it to the Mains of the Combined Competitive Examination, 2018 as per the first list. He, however, assured to initiate appropriate action against the 22 experts who had committed the errors while preparing the answer keys. Majority of the experts were teachers at Government Colleges and their services were roped in by the APSC based on their eligibility.

On other hand, several candidates who could not qualify for the Mains of the Combined Competitive Examination have accused the Assam Public Service Commission of taking an adamant attitude to hide its loopholes. “Many deserving candidates will be deprived. Nothing has changed in the functioning of the APSC even after the cash-for-job scam. Unless drastic reform measures are initiated in the Assam Public Service Commission, the meritorious candidates will continue to suffer. We demand a high-level probe into the recent irregularities in APSC,” a candidate who sat for the prelims exam said.

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