Conduct Of APSC Mains Exam 2020 Challenged Before Gauhati High Court On Ground Of Violation Of Examination Rules

A Writ Petition has been filed before the Gauhati High Court challenging the conduct of the Assam Public Service Commission Competitive (Main) Examination, 2020 scheduled to be held from February 21, to February 27, 2022.

The plea has been moved by Bikas Borah and 10 others challenging the decision of the Public Service Commission for the state of Assam to issue the impugned notification notifying the program for the combined Competitive (Main) Examination, 2020, and notified that the e-admission certificate will be issued on February 14, 2022.

The plea avers that the impugned program for main written examination is issued in blatant violation of SECTION-II (C) (7) of the Assam Public Services Combined Competitive Examination (Amendment) Rules, 2019, which provides that the e-admission certificate has to be issued three weeks before the commencement of the examination.

"The same is not being complied with and instead, it is being issued merely 7 days before the conduct of Combined Competitive (Main) Examination 2020 which is very unfair and that too, the fact being that new question pattern has been introduced," the plea adds.

Further, the plea also states that since the examination is being conducted at this time when the COVID is at surge, therefore, the plea argued, a proper opportunity should be given to the infected candidates having mild symptoms or no symptoms at all (asymptomatic) and are otherwise capable of writing the examination but no notification is issued in this regard.

Additionally, the plea also challenged the conduct of the exam on the following ground:

• The Public Service Commission for the state of Assam has not issued the select list and the reject list of candidates for the said examination.
• They have not disclosed the word limit and page limit for the Essay Paper, and have not disclosed the pattern of optional paper II.
• That the page limit for General Studies Paper I, II, III, IV & V are also not disclosed.
• The ST and OBC/MOBC candidates are not provided the financial assistance that they are entitled to receive.

Against this backdrop, the plea avers that the Public Service Commission for the state of Assam, in violation of the rules and general practices, is proceeding to conduct the Combined Competitive (Main) Examination, 2020, haphazardly in a hasty manner without addressing the problems of the petitioners in a most unfair, illegal, unjust, unreasonable and impractical manner which hits the core of transparency.

Therefore, the writ petition seeks the intervention of the High Court