Five face action modifying answer sheets in UPPSC exams
The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) has taken disciplinary action against five officers and employees over the alleged tampering of a candidate’s answer sheets in the UP Judicial Service Civil Judge (Junior Division) Main (Written) Examination-2022, also known as PCS (J) Mains-2022.
The examination was held from May 22 to 25, 2023, with results announced on August 30, 2023, and marks released in November 2023.
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UPPSC Secretary Ashok Kumar announced the suspension of Section Officer Shiv Shankar, Review Officer Neelam Shukla, and Assistant Review Officer Bhagwati Devi for negligence in investigating the matter. Additionally, departmental action has been initiate against Deputy Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, and permission sought from the state government to take action against retire Assistant Review Officer Chandrakala.
The issue arose when PCS (J) Main exam-2022 candidate Shravan Pandey, after reviewing his answer sheets under the RTI Act, filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court. He alleged discrepancies in the handwriting of his English answer sheet and claimed that pages were torn from another answer sheet, affecting his results.
On June 5, 2024, the High Court directed UPPSC to present the petitioner’s answer sheets for six question papers. The Commission complied on June 7, 2024, and provided an affidavit stating that an internal review of all 18,042 answer sheets from 3,019 candidates was underway to ensure proper anonymity through dummy roll numbers during evaluation.
Additionally, UPPSC began showing the answer sheets to candidates from June 20, with the process set to continue until July 30. As of now, 232 candidates have reviewed their answer sheets.
