Goof-up in APSC Prelims

The AssamPublic Service Commission(APSC) is not only back in the news but also for thesame mistakes as they made a severe error in evaluating the Prelimsexamination.

The'answer key', which is the reference point for the evaluator of the APSC exams,is found to be ridden with mistakes, raising severe apprehensions over thebasis on which the results of the Prelims were prepared.

A worriedAPSC released now two lists of successful candidates once their mistake wasfound out and deprived candidates were threatening to go to the court andstalling the whole process.

The APSCon March 13, announced a list of 3500 candidates in the prelims on March 13 andthen again another 406 candidates have announced after some of the aggrievedcandidates got access to the 'answer key' through RTI and found several answersin the 'answer key' itself to be wrong.

The APSC,admitting their mistake, has included another 406 new candidates to cover upthe matter. But the bigger question is that how can candidates who had givenwrong answers get away and make it to the Mains," an aggrieved candidate toldthis reporter.

Questionsare now being asked as to how the 3,500 candidates could be cleared at thefirst place if there were serious gaps in the evaluation process and there wasa series of mistakes in the 'answer key' itself, which is the reference pointof evaluating the OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets.

The fauxpas on the part of the APSC has irked the deserving candidates who have nowthreatened to move the Gauhati High Court over the issue.

"If yougo through the 'answer key', which we have received through RTI application, itis clear that the OMR answer sheets were evaluated based on a wrong 'answerkey'.

 "Further, many candidates have not beenincluded for the Mains despite providing representation showing that theydeserve to cut," sources pointed out.

The APSCis however tightlipped with the whole issue.