AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government on Sunday called off the clerk recruitment examination just hours prior to its commencement after the question paper was leaked. The exam was scheduled to take place at 2,995 centres in the state.
Protests erupted across Gujarat and candidates, who reached the examination centers from far-off places, expressed anger over the development. Police teams were deployed at the exam centres and bus stands to avoid untoward incidents. The Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board (GPSSB) has decided to “postpone” the exam in the broader interest of the candidates, it said in a statement.
State Panchayat Department’s development commissioner Sandeep Kumar told reporters that the examination will be held in the next 100 days. On a tip-off, police detained a suspect and recovered a copy of the question paper of the exam early Sunday morning. A Gujarat ATS officer said 15 people were rounded up in connection with the leak from Vadodara as the agency had kept a close watch on the suspects in the last few days.
Gujarat ATS Superintendent of Police Sunil Joshi said, “The Government had instructed police and agencies to keep a close vigil on persons who were involved in illegal activities like providing the competitive exam papers in lieu of money.”
“The ATS team was working on the movement of some suspects and Saturday night a candidate was caught with the paper. Following the lead, 15 persons were rounded up, they are part of a highly organised gang that operates in different states,” he added
Sources said five police teams have been dispatched to Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi to arrest more suspects involved in the racket. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi claimed 15 such competitive examinations were postponed in the last 12 years due to question papers leaks. The junior clerk exam, for which the first advertisement was issued in 2016, has cancelled for the third time, he further alleged. The Panchayat Department’s development commissioner Sandeep Kumar said the postponed competitive examination will now be held in the next 100 days.
A recurring tale
Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has detained 15 people in connection with the question paper leak. An astonishing 9.53 lakh candidate had applied for 1,181 vacant posts.