JKPSC to re-assess merit of candidates in state civil service exam

Srinagar, June 15: In an unprecedented move, the Jammu and Kashmi Public Service Commission (JKPSC) on Wednesday withdrew its notification for the state civil services main exam as it decided to re-assess the merit of candidates who appeared in the preliminary exam for this selection.

This was the first such incident in its 60-year-old existence.

In a notification of Wednesday, the JKPSC said that after the announcement of the result the commission again received various deputations/representations and applications under the J&K RTI Act, from Kashmir Administrative Service aspirants about discrepancies in question papers/answer keys of J&K combined competitive (preliminary) examination, 2016.

It said that the commission in its 4th extraordinary meeting held on June 12 has decided to refer the question papers and answer keys thereto to the independent/third party subject experts for re-looking/revisiting them in order to find out discrepancy, if any and in view of this, the results notified for the test held on April 23 have been kept in abeyance and the May 9 notification inviting applications for the main examination 2016 is hereby withdrawn".

The preliminary exam question papers and the answers keys had attracted much criticism from candidates, most of whom alleged that wrong options had been treated as correct for many questions set in the preliminary exam. A local journalist had also written extensively on the matter.

Mufti Tasaduq Hussain, the brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who looks after the chief minister's grievance cell had also sent a missive to the JKPSC Chairman, requesting withdrawal of the announced results in light of huge discrepancies in the preliminary test brought to his notice by aspiring candidates.