CBI to probe malpractice in SSC exams

Candidates say many shortcomings in software of vendor have been overlooked

The nation-wide protest that broke out alleging malpractice and irregularities in the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) examination has finally moved the Central government, with the Union Home minister ordering a CBI probe. This is not enough for the protesters who say they will continue the protests until a proper format is released.

Scores of candidates have been sitting on a protest in New Delhi since February 27. They allege that one of the key answer sheets of Quantitative Abilities (paper 1) scheduled for February 21 was leaked online before the examination. Also, the questions of the SSC CGL 17 tier-2 exam, which was to be conducted from February 17 to 20, went viral on social media.

The candidates relate this scam to the AIIMS paper leak in 2017 and the Neet post-graduation scam in 2016. In fact, they say this is a bigger scam than the notorious VYAPAM scam of Madhya Pradesh.

In a complaint written by the protesting aspirants to the union government, it was explained, “There are huge issues related to the exam conducting vendors since its inception, especially those who conduct online examination for the SSC. Many shortcomings in the software of the vendor were reported to SSC time and again, but all went in vain. Since it’s a private company (a vendor that conducts exam) a proper audit should have been done by the commission or any third party approved by the commission.”

There is also a complaint about the software audit. The protesting candidates say that the SSC referred the exam conducting software audit to the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), but NTRO would not take it on. It was the duty of the government to then get an audit done by another government agency or inform the Prime Minister’s office, they say, but no audit of the examination software was done and SSC has continued conducting examinations for two years without the audit.