Now irregularities in the UPPCS J exam: 50 copies were changed, and bundles of 25 copies each were prepared; this is how the whole matter was revealed

In the PCS-J Main Examination-2022, not one but 50 candidates' copies were changed. After the disclosure of the investigation conducted after a candidate approached the High Court, the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) held five officers guilty and suspended three.

Departmental action was taken against supervisory officer Deputy Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, while permission has been sought from the government against a retired woman officer. Shravan Pandey, a candidate who failed the main examination, had filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court saying that the handwriting on the copy was not his.

The High Court had sought a reply from the Commission on the sensational allegations of changing the copy. After this, the investigation revealed that not one, but two bundles of 25-25 copies (total 50 copies) have been changed.

On this, on the instructions of the Chairman of the Commission, Sanjay Srinet, Section Officer Shivshankar, Review Officer Neelam Shukla, and Assistant Review Officer Bhagwati Devi were suspended. Departmental action was taken against supervisory officer Deputy Secretary Mishra. A charge sheet will be issued to them. Retired Assistant Review Officer Chandrakala has also been found guilty.

The commission cannot take direct action against a retired employee. So, permission has been sought from the government to take action against them under Rule 351-A. Action will be taken against them too if approval is received.

The commission may be calling this mistake a human error, but this incident is unusual. It may also affect the result. Before the evaluation of the copies of the main examination of PCS-J, bundles of 25-25 copies were prepared.

Coding was done on the copies so that the identity of the candidates remains hidden during evaluation. Roll numbers are marked after evaluation. A mistake occurred in this process of coding and all 50 copies were interchanged with each other.

All the copies that were changed were of English subject.

According to the commission, all the copies that were changed due to wrong coding were of English subject. The English question paper was of 100 marks. The result of the examination can also be affected by its change. At present, its investigation is going on.

Under the PCS-J Exam-2022, candidates were declared selected for 302 posts, and have also got appointments. If the result is affected, the commission may have to conduct separate interviews of some new candidates.

If random checks were done, the copies would not have been changed

If the supervisory officer had done a random check of just one copy from each bundle, it would have been known that the coding was wrong. However, after coding, it was not checked at any level and the copies were sent for evaluation. The result of this is that the copies of the candidates were changed among themselves.

A copy was also changed in PCS-2015, but the matter was suppressed

In PCS-2015, the copy of female candidate Suhasini Bajpai was also changed. This was revealed when the copy was seen under the Right to Information. Later she was passed in the main examination for interview. However, she failed in the interview and could not get selected.

Commission sources say that this happened due to wrong coding at that time. Even then many copies kept in a bundle must have been changed but the matter was hushed up. If strict action had been taken then, the chances of repeating the mistake would have been reduced. However, later CBI also filed a case when many irregularities came to light in PCS-2015 during the investigation.

Wrong coding was done in the bundle of copies due to human error. The Commission has taken strict action on this and action has been taken against the guilty officers. Necessary steps are being taken to prevent such mistakes in the future.