Five SPSC officials to face inquiry for ‘tampering with exam results’

Investigation panel given 30 days to complete probe into CCE-2020 that may lead to departmental action

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh government has instituted an inquiry against five existing and former officers of the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) over allegations of tampering the results of the Combined Competitive Exams (CCE) 2020.

The charge sheets have been issued against the officers, including former controller examination Hadi Bux Kalhoro (BPS-20), Shoukat Ali Ujjan (BPS-20), Assistant Controller Noor Muhammad Dars, and Superintendents Muhammad Yousuf and Farooq Noor Khan.

The inquiry order and the charge sheets were issued on Saturday. Sindh Chief Secretary Mohammad Sohail Rajput has entrusted the inquiry to Provincial Ombudsman Secretary Ali Hussain Malik and Provincial Election Authority Chairman Muhammad Nawaz Shaikh.

They have been given 30 days to complete the inquiry which may lead to disciplinary action against the five serving officers. The case of the retired SPSC chairman, Noor Muhammad Jadmani, has been sent to the Law Department for advice.

The alleged result tampering surfaced in a report submitted by an assignee of the Sindh High Court (SHC), the additional registrar of Hyderabad circuit bench, who pointed out that not only the answer sheets had been re-assessed, but beneficiary candidates had also been given higher marks. "... presently under suspension have committed the acts of inefficiency, misconduct and omission by using your official position to manoeuvre and manipulate the result of CCE2020 to extend favours and benefits to selected candidates," reads the charge sheets issued to the five officers. Kalhoro, Ujjan, Dars, Yousuf and Khan have been given seven days to submit their written defence to the committee.

Failure to comply with the deadline will pave the way for exparte action. In a letter dated March 11, addressed to the secretary I&C, Services, General Administration and Coordination Department, a reference has been given to the SPSC to conduct inquiry. It concluded that "there is no doubt that the SPSC's officials have used their official positions to manoeuvre the CCE-2020 to extend favours and benefits to the candidates who unjustifiably benefited during the rectification exercise".

The same letter recommends that action should be taken against Jadmani, who retired as the SPSC chairman on March 30, 2022, "for his involvement in tinkering with the examination papers". Jadmani, a former ambassador, was appointed as the chairman on March 31, 2017. The CCE-2020 was conducted during his tenure as the head of the commission.

The Sindh Law Department has been asked to suggest how departmental inquiry can be conducted against a retired officer. On February 24, the SHC ordered that the CCE-2020 should be conducted again in a short span of two months, cancelling the entire process of written tests and interviews which were taken previously. "... 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," reads the SHC order. On November 9, 2020, the SHC had ordered the SPSC to let the official assignee and additional registrars of the SHC's benches in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana supervise the exams.

Although the exams were conducted under supervision of the judicial officers, the rectification exercise or re-assessment was later carried out without approval of those officials. The additional registrar of SHC Hyderabad pointed out that many candidates were given higher scores during the said rectification.