THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Entrusting the PSC’s internal vigilance officer with a comprehensive enquiry, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has initiated a probe after finding that answers to 10 questions in a descriptive examination for the post of Chief, Industry and Infrastructure Division of the State Planning Board had not been evaluated for any candidate.
The lapse came to light after a candidate included in the rank list sought a copy of the answer script of the descriptive examination held on July 13, 2023. After obtaining the answer script, the candidate approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, alleging that answers to Questions 9 to 18 in Paper I had not been evaluated.
A preliminary verification by the PSC found that the answers to the same questions had remained unevaluated for all candidates who appeared for the examination. PSC said the descriptive test was assessed through the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system and that the questions had inadvertently not been assigned for evaluation and that led to the omission.
PSC has decided to evaluate the previously omitted answers of all candidates and take further action based on the revised assessment.
The PSC’s Internal Vigilance Officer has been tasked with conducting an inquiry into the incident.
The probe will examine all technical and procedural aspects of the evaluation process, besides looking into whether there was any delay in providing copies of answer scripts to candidates.
PSC also said that appointment recommendations already issued for the posts of Chief, Industry and Infrastructure Division and Chief, Planning Coordination Division will be subject to the final verdict of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal.