Thiruvananthapuram, June 29 (IANS) In a major climb-down following revelations of serious evaluation lapses in a recruitment examination for the State Planning Board, the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) on Monday cancelled the existing rank list and decided to publish a revised one after a fresh evaluation while ordering an internal vigilance inquiry.

The PSC also resolved to re-evaluate 10 answers that had been left unmarked during the original assessment, a lapse that could potentially alter the rankings of candidates.

A fresh rank list will be prepared after the re-evaluation.

The Commission’s internal vigilance wing has been tasked with investigating how the lapse occurred, whether established evaluation procedures were violated, and whether disciplinary action is warranted against those responsible.

The controversy erupted after it emerged that answers to 10 descriptive questions in the examination for the post of Chief (Industry and Infrastructure Division) in the State Planning Board had been left completely unevaluated.

The disclosure raised serious concerns that candidates’ scores and rankings may have been significantly distorted, triggering widespread protests and demands for corrective action.

All this took place during the rule of the Pinarayi Vijayan government, and all 15 PSC members were the nominees of the then ruling Left.

The episode has once again cast a shadow over the credibility of the Kerala PSC and is being viewed as one of the most serious examination irregularities witnessed by the constitutional recruitment body in recent years.

The examination formed part of a common recruitment process for three senior Planning Board posts carrying one of the highest salary scales in the state government.

A total of 228 candidates appeared for the examination, conducted for the posts of the Chief, Industry and Infrastructure Division, the Chief, Perspective Planning Division, and the Chief, Planning Coordination Division, each carrying a basic pay of about Rs 1.25 lakh a month.

The irregularity remained concealed for months because candidates were initially denied copies of their answer scripts.

It surfaced only after prolonged proceedings under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, when candidates finally obtained copies of their evaluated answer sheets and discovered that 10 questions had not been assessed at all.

Had marks been awarded for those questions, the existing rank lists could have undergone substantial changes.

The Commission’s decision to scrap the rank list and order an internal vigilance probe amounts to a tacit acknowledgement of the gravity of the lapse.

The outcome of the inquiry is expected to determine accountability within the PSC while seeking to restore confidence in the integrity of the state’s recruitment process.

The state government is adopting a wait-and-watch position as the general norm in PSC is that, if there is any complaint, its internal vigilance wing conducts a probe and the next step is taken based on this.

–IANS

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