Official assignee declines to re-conduct CCE 2020 exams

SHC refers judgment of nullifying the results to chief justice

HYDRABAD:

The official assignee of the Sindh government, Chaudhry Waseem Iqbal, has declined to supervise the re-conduct of the Combined Competitive Exams (CCE) 2020, as ordered by the Sindh High Court on February 23.

In view of his reluctance, the SHC referred the said judgment, which nullified the results of CCE-2020 and directed Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) to conduct the exam again within two months, to the SHC chief justice.

"Learned official assignee has shown reservations, which itself is a creation of the Insolvency Act and being an employee of the Sindh government, is unable to perform the designated task entrusted to him," reads the order. "... it would amount to reviewing the order whereby a number of tasks have been assigned to him."

As per the February 23 order, and other similar orders dated November 9, 24, 25, 2020, as well as February 3 and 17, the official assignee and additional registrars of the SHC's benches in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana were to supervise the exams. It was one of these officials, the additional registrar SHC Hyderabad, who unearthed tampering in the re-assessment of the answer sheets which led to cancellation of the results of that exam.

Keeping in view the urgency of the matter, the SHC directed the registrar to place the matter in question before the SHC chief justice within a week or at the earliest possible time.

The SHC had also sought action against the officers found involved in tampering the CCE 2020 results following which the provincial government suspended five officers of SPSC and initiated inquiries.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2023.