CHANDIGARH: Against the backdrop of the nationwide debate over exam paper leaks, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government has been grappling with its own controversy following the Pharmacy Officer recruitment examination for 454 posts conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.
As opposition parties, including the Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal, claimed that the state witnessed six major paper leak or examination malpractice incidents since 2022, citing recruitment and board examinations, they demanded the resignation of state School and Higher Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union Education Minister last week over the NEET paper leak controversy.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that not a single competitive examination paper has been leaked during his government's tenure.
The demand for Bains' resignation and that of other ministers under whose departments the controversial exams were held was raised by opposition parties after senior party leader and Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia said at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, “If any paper leak happens in Punjab, we will immediately sack the minister.”
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday appealed to Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and briefed him regarding the ten paper leaks and irregularities in government recruitments.
It informed the Governor that an impression had gained ground that examination leaks were occurring in connivance with senior functionaries in the AAP government and that this was a case of a jobs-for-money racket being run by an organised criminal network.
Accordingly, the delegation demanded that the role of the Chief Minister, council of ministers, AAP leaders, public servants and private persons in the examination scam should be thoroughly probed by the CBI. It also called for forensic examination of all digital records, CCTV footage, servers, communication records and examination-related documents.
It further demanded a comprehensive audit of all recruitment examinations conducted by various state agencies during the last four and a half years.
Badal informed Kataria that a large number of government jobs were being given to outsiders under an AAP conspiracy to expand its footprint in other states.
“More than half of prevailing jobs in Punjab are being given to outsiders in lieu of political help for AAP in Rajasthan, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
The delegation said that while the recent paper leak in the Pharmacy Officers examination had exposed how even sophisticated electronic devices, including Bluetooth receivers and miniature headphones, were used to compromise the integrity of government recruitment in Punjab, this was part of a succession of paper leaks.
It said the papers that had been leaked included the PPSC Naib Tehsildar recruitment examination, PSEB Class XII English board examination, Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test, PPSC Agriculture Development Officers examination, Bhasha Vibhag recruitment, PSSSB Group B Officers Combined examination, Punjab Excise Inspector examination, Class X State Board examination and the Punjab State Rural Livelihood examination.
It said that in the last examination, 30 per cent interview marks had been awarded arbitrarily, necessitating an intervention by the High Court and formation of a committee to examine the entire case in his chamber. It also informed that some of the recruitment papers had been stayed by the High Court.
Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal also accused the AAP government of failing to address examination irregularities in Punjab, claiming that the state had witnessed six major paper leaks over the past five years.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Delhi Cabinet Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and senior BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu also demanded Bains' resignation. The Congress further said it would continue raising the issue of alleged exam irregularities in the state.
As per the claims of opposition parties, besides the present paper leak, the others include the Naib Tehsildar recruitment examination (2022) — involving allegations of dummy candidates and electronic cheating; the exam was later cancelled. Other cases include the SSSB Group-B Officers recruitment examination, Agriculture Development Officer recruitment examination and PSEB Class XII English examination controversy.
Responding to the allegations, Mann said there had not been a single paper leak in any competitive examination under the AAP government.
Recently, while addressing an event to honour 882 students of government schools who cleared the NEET-UG re-exam, Mann acknowledged that two cheating incidents had been detected but maintained that they did not involve question paper leaks. He said all those involved had been arrested, with 21 arrests made in the cheating case so far.
Meanwhile, Punjab Police have maintained that the question paper was not leaked before the examination and described the incident as a technology-enabled cheating racket operating in real time after busting an alleged inter-state cheating racket during the examination.
Police also recovered hidden pen cameras, Bluetooth earpieces and wireless communication devices. The investigation found that candidates allegedly photographed question papers after the exam had begun and transmitted them outside for answers.
“There was no evidence of a question paper leak before the examination,” said the police, terming it a real-time cheating racket and not a pre-exam paper leak.
