Govt Jobs: PIL In Rajasthan High Court Seeks Source Of Answer Keys Used In Recruitment Exams, Suggests Overall Reforms In Process

Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Rekha Borana, observed,

"Issue notice of writ petition, returnable within a period of four weeks and be given 'dasti' to learned counsel for the petitioner for service."

Notably, in M/s Utkarsh Classes & Ors. V/s State of Rajasthan the High Court had ordered that the respondents shall supply the syllabus at the time of initiation of recruitment process and shall also put question papers on website in case, they are not permitted to be carried by the candidates and shall also publish the model key answers of objective type question, if any, on their website before or at the time of declaration of the result. In this regard, the petitioner, in the present matter, sought direction to respondents to issue detailed syllabus in compliance of the order dated 25.10.2012 for all the recruitments in the state of Rajasthan.

The plea further prays for directions to the respondents to issue source of question with references like book, publisher, author, edition and page no. along with the model/primary answer key.

In addition, the plea sought to make it mandatory for the expert paper setter (who sets the paper for the recruitment examinations) to provide the source of the question with references on the basis of which the questions are included in the question paper. It also prayed for the direction to respondents to prescribe minimum required marks for all the recruitment examinations to get selected for a particular post in the State Government or its instrumentalities.

SUGGESTIONS

Furthermore, the plea stated that a committee of experts be constituted to consider the suggestions of the petitioner-institute for framing of guidelines of recruitments:

1. An Examination Regulatory Board should be formed to monitor all the departments. Same calendar of all the state level recruitment board examinations should be prepared by the government, such that there should be no conflict with the date of any other examination.

2. There should be at least 3-4 months gap between application form submission and the date of examination so that the candidates can get enough time to prepare for the same. The petitioner suggested,

"The categorization of the posts as per the reservation and as per the roster point should be clarified properly to avoid complications. The quota of other states in recruitment examinations should be reduced. The same fee should be made applicable for all the recruitment examinations as is there in the central government recruitments. In the advertisement date of examination, time period of declaration of result, and time period of completion of the recruitment process by issuing the final merit list/select list be published."

In the syllabus, a blueprint of total questions along with subject wise number of questions to be asked should be there..

3. The monitoring of the papers should be done by a government secret agency.. The examination centre should be within a maximum radius of 100 km of the candidate. This will not only save time but also reduce the chances of accidents. Candidates can reach the examination centre on time and they can get rest time and take the exam without any stress. Uniform dress code should be prescribed in all recruitment examinations.

4. There should be a minimum pass percentage for all the categories in the examination so that the candidates of minimum standards may be appointed. Even if there is no answer to the question in the OMR, it is mandatory to fill it by giving an additional 5th circle, so that the OMR sheet may not be tempered after the examination, for this additional time period should be given.

5. The paper setter should be kept in a secret place from the date of setting the paper till the date of the examination, the paper should be prepared 15 to 20 days before the examination. If at any level, the institution conducting the exam has a role in the paper leak case, then their recognition should be cancelled. 10 days before the exam, helpline number should be issued for secret information so that secret information can be obtained and action can be taken on that information.

6.Those who report any suspicious activity related to the paper should be rewarded and the information should be kept secret. On receipt of information, investigation should be done with immediate effect and strict action should be taken against those involved.

7. Model/ Primary answer key should be issued after 2-3 days of examination and must contain the source of the question with references. There should be a process of registering and disposing of objections on the answer key within a week.

8. The result of the examination should be declared on time so that the candidates can prepare for the examination (main examination and interview) enthusiastically. Along with the result of the examination, the syllabus of the main examination should be issued and at the same time sufficient time of 80 to 90 days should be given for the main examination.

9. There should be a bar code in the interview. The interview should be of minimum marks. One day before the interview, the student should be informed about the interview panel so that transparency is maintained. There should be 2 panels in the interview whose video record should also be kept, marks should be given on the basis of equal proportion of marks issued by both the panels. No member of the interview panel should engage in any caste, religion, (special reference), political, social activities. The final result should be released after one month of the interview

10. The list of required official documents for appointment should be issued within a week, so that the candidate can get it ready in time. For document verification in all the exams, 2 times the candidates should be passed, before the examination, the candidates should be informed through e-mail and messages as well. Waiting list should be issued in place of applicants who have not joined after being finally selected. Selected candidates should be appointed in 3-4 months' time if the same is not subject matter of any litigation.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS REGARDING EXAMINATION IN THE PETITION

A. Uniform eligibility test should be implemented in all departments. There should not be any doubtful questions in the paper. A special expert committee should scrutinise doubtful questions, if any. Special measures should be taken to protect the confidentiality of the question paper. Secret coordinators should be appointed at the examination centres for monitoring question papers and to secure transport of the OMR sheet to the decided destination.

B. After completion of the examination, within 7 days, disputed questions may be deleted or bonus marks should be awarded and this information should be made public. If there is more than one paper of the same recruitment board examination, then the level of all should be kept the same and uniform merit should be prepared in the selection process as well.

C. For all the papers, the number of posts and candidates should be divided in an equal proportion so that the process like normalization does not happen.

D.The guilty candidates should be punished with the harshest punishment such as confiscation of entire property and life imprisonment and also be debarred from all the upcoming examinations and those with fake degrees should be disqualified by cancelling the degrees.

E. Biometric system should be implemented in all recruitment examinations and duty of government employees should be imposed in all recruitment examinations, so that immediate action can be taken if found involved in paper out or other activities.

Sr. Adv. Vikas Balia assisted by Adv. Sajjan Singh Rathore appeared for the petitioner-institute.

Case Title: M/s Utkarsh Classes v. State Of Rajasthan & Ors.

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