Ex-judge to probe APSC anomalies

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati high court on Wednesday set up a one-man commission under retired justice B K Sharma to inquire into allegations of anomalies and malpractices by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) while conducting examinations.
An official notification stated: "The terms of reference of the commission of inquiry shall inquire into the entire process of selection of the candidates and role of the chairman (Rakesh Paul) and other members of APSC and the system followed by APSC for setting of questions for conducting various examinations including the qualifications, integrity and competency of the question setters and whether the question setters are properly trained and briefed by the APSC." Sharma has been asked to submit a report within six months. He has also been asked to probe into the process of selection of the panel of question setters by APSC and also suggest ways to improve the mode of selection and preparation of the panel of question setters.
The probe would also cover previous incidents where answer keys were seen to be incorrect because of which corrective measures had to be taken. The commission will also figure out whether the fault was on the part of the question setters in order to ascertain that such mistakes are not repeated in the future. It would also inquire and study the system followed by the APSC during viva interview of candidates, marking pattern under the existing rules and whether proper transparency is maintained during the interviews.
Last month, while taking up a civil contempt of court petition filed by RTI activist Okram Prasanta Singha against the state government for not obeying a previous court order, the Gauhati high court had ordered the state government to set up the judicial probe. The state government allegedly did not comply with the order.
Singha said, "A judicial probe is required for a comprehensive enquiry innto the matter to check various malpractices in paper setting, valuation, moderation and viva-voce. It would also include checking the competence of experts chosen for paper-setting and valuation of answer scripts." He added that since the police investigation would only be focused on the criminal aspects of the case like forgery, bribery and others, only a judicial probe can reveal the other administrative malpractices in the system.