‘6 marks awarded to candidates for 3 wrong questions’
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 26: The Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) which has been accused of nepotism and favouritism after reassessment of the OMR answer sheets of the MCS (Preliminary) examinations held last year and notifying the results of additional list of 62 candidates qualified to appear for the MCS (Mains) examinations has made it clear that transparency and confidentiality at the highest level was maintained.
In a clarification issued on Friday, the MPSC said most, if not all public examinations, have a mechanism for a candidate to appeal against any faulty question/ answer and the same yardstick and policy was adopted by the commission.
“All measures have been taken to ensure that the questions set by the question setter/ examiner are error free. However, despite all these precautions and efforts errors do occur at times. The same is the case with most of the top recruitment authorities of the nation,” it said.
The MPSC said after declaration of results of MCS (Preliminary) examinations, one complainant filed a petition on January 25, 2024, seeking the answer key for the said examination which was supplied to the complainant on February 6.
The petitioner submitted a representation to the commission on February 9 along with documents, claiming that the official answer key to three questions were wrong.
The MPSC conducted an internal review and called for a third party to verify the claims of the complainant.
The MPSC stated that an expert was engaged to review the three questions that were challenged who agreed that errors had occurred.
Taking the matter seriously, the MPSC decided to reassess the OMR answer sheets only for those three questions which carried a total of six marks.
The commission stated that the cut-off marks for different category for MCS (Preliminary) examination as declared on December 15, 2023, were: Unreserved=112; Khasi-Jaintia= 92, Garo=84 and OST/SC=86.
After the reassessment, a total of 62 additional candidates were found to have marks as per the cut-off list and were considered eligible and included in the additional list.
The MPSC further clarified that the doctrine of equality was applied to all 13,451 candidates for re-assessment of the three questions only, while keeping the remaining questions intact.
Since 62 candidates had secured the cut-off marks, in addition to the 580 candidates from the first list, they were also declared as qualified for the MCS (Mains) examination. Meanwhile, the KSU questioned the recent notification of the MPSC with regards to the 62 additional candidates which have been selected for MCS (Main) examination.
Speaking to reporters after meeting MPSC Chairman Paul Reader Marwein on Friday, KSU assistant general secretary Reuben Najiar said it has been alleged that the recent notification of the MPSC was done with the malafide intention to incorporate those people which come from high-profile background.
According to Najiar, the MPSC Chairman himself is not well aware of the fact after they had shared the grievances of the students who are aspiring to join the state civil services.
He further stated that according to the claim of the MPSC chairman there has been a mistake in the OMR sheet pertaining to three questions.
“The union is not surprised by the statement of the MPSC Chairman since this is not the first time the commission has made such a blunder. Time and again we have seen that the commission has been making such blunders,” the KSU leader said.
Najiar recalled that in 2018-2019, the same thing had happened and some candidates had even filed a petition before the High Court on the irregularities in the MPSC.
Najiar said they have asked the chairman to display the marks of all the candidates who have qualified, including both the original list of candidates and the additional 62 candidates.
“It should be clear to the public at large as to what are the marks of the candidates who have been selected for the MCS (Mains) examination,” he said.