GUWAHATI, May 2 - As if the loss of credibility owing to the cash-for-job scam was not enough, the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) inflicted further dent on its image by making 94 mistakes in the �answer keys� of 21 subjects in the Combined Competitive Examination (Prelims), 2018, the results of which were announced recently.
What defies logic is that despite admitting to the goof-up, the Commission is adamant on giving the leeway to 3,361 candidates, who had made it to the Mains after being evaluated on the basis of wrong answer keys (inaccurate answers).
The idea to give immunity to the 3,361 candidates has drawn sharp reaction, for the APSC is not willing to make their OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets public.
Of the 94 wrong answer keys that were detected, the answer keys to subjects like political science and history topped the chart with 14 and 11 errors respectively. Further, there were nine errors in sociology, eight in mechanical engineering and seven in geology.
The APSC had declared the list of 3,361 candidates on March 13 and it was only after the answer keys were acquired through RTI that the large-scale error came to the fore leading to protest by aspirants.
Although the Commission subsequently tried to cover up the issue by announcing a list of another 406 candidates, who were initially left out, it failed to give a convincing answer as to why the 3,361 candidates cleared in the first lot have not been subjected to any scrutiny.
Deepak Kumar Sarma, the acting chairman of the APSC, talking to media persons here today, said, �We are not going to touch the 3,361 candidates who had made it to the Mains as per the first list.�
However, he said that appropriate action would be taken against the 22 experts who had made the errors while preparing the answer keys. The experts are mostly teachers at government colleges and their services were roped in based on their eligibility.
Pubali Gohain, the principal controller of examinations of APSC was also present on the occasion.
Meanwhile, a section of deprived candidates has alleged that such an attitude of the APSC would deprive many deserving candidates, who now have no option but move the court to seek justice.
�Why should the candidates suffer due to the mistakes committed by the APSC? And if the Commission had admitted to the mistakes, there is no doubt that many candidates got through even by giving wrong answers and vice versa?� an aggrieved candidate said.
