Re-conduct of 2020 competitive exam ordered

SHC finds massive irregularities, seeks compliance of report within two months

HYDRABAD:

After unearthing massive irregularities in the combined competitive exams (CCE) conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) in 2020, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday ordered the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) to re-conduct the examination and submit a compliance report.

The SHC also sought disciplinary action against the SPSC’s officials found responsible for tampering the answer sheets during the assessment process, warning that the court will examine the penalties.

“... in the first place, the tampering of the answer sheets ex-facie spoiled the whole transparency that a public body must adhere to when undertaking such a process,” the eight-page judgment observed. “... we are compelled to hold that the entire result of CCE-2020 based on tampered answer sheets has polluted the required standards of transparency. Therefore, the exams of CCE-2020 need to be held again in terms of the orders passed by this court earlier.”

The judgment cited five separate orders given in the same case on November 9, 2020, November 24, 2020, November 25, 2020, February 3 and February 17 in this regard. In the November 9 order, the court had directed that the official assignee and additional registrars of the SHC’s benches in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana would supervise the exams. The supervisors were asked to comply with the March 13, 2017, suo moto case judgment of the apex court. For the sake of transparency, they were supposed to timely inform a candidate about rejection of their form so that they could avail the option of appeal.

The CCE-2020 was conducted from November 10-25, 2020, in compliance with the order. However, after the written tests, two more stages remained including the assessment of the answer papers and the subsequent viva-voce. As directed, the commission had installed CCTV cameras in the rooms where the answer sheets were placed and the recordings of the months of December, 2020, and January, 2021, were submitted at the office of additional registrar SHC Hyderabad.

However, the additional registrar SHC Hyderabad, during his visit to the commission’s Hyderabad based head office on January 2 this year, found that the commission carried out an exercise titled ‘rectification’ by getting the answer sheets reassessed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2023.